Head to head · Girls' names
Julieta vs Meadow
#285 vs #286 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Julieta is a whisker ahead (#285 vs #286 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Julieta leads 5 measures of 6; Meadow leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Julieta #3150, Meadow #3188 — Julieta higher
- 1920s: Julieta #3023, Meadow — — Julieta higher
- 1930s: Julieta #2237, Meadow — — Julieta higher
- 1940s: Julieta #2804, Meadow — — Julieta higher
- 1950s: Julieta #2912, Meadow — — Julieta higher
- 1960s: Julieta #2804, Meadow #6617 — Julieta higher
- 1970s: Julieta #2635, Meadow #4271 — Julieta higher
- 1980s: Julieta #2689, Meadow #6244 — Julieta higher
- 1990s: Julieta #2338, Meadow #7454 — Julieta higher
- 2000s: Julieta #1414, Meadow #872 — Meadow higher
- 2010s: Julieta #829, Meadow #753 — Meadow higher
- 2020s: Julieta #450, Meadow #390 — Meadow higher
Julieta stood higher in 9 of 12 decades; Meadow has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Julieta | Meadow |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #3150 | #3188 |
| 1920s | #3023 | — |
| 1930s | #2237 | — |
| 1940s | #2804 | — |
| 1950s | #2912 | — |
| 1960s | #2804 | #6617 |
| 1970s | #2635 | #4271 |
| 1980s | #2689 | #6244 |
| 1990s | #2338 | #7454 |
| 2000s | #1414 | #872 |
| 2010s | #829 | #753 |
| 2020s | #450 | #390 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Julieta
A form of Juliet, a diminutive of Julia — from the Roman family name Julius
That Julieta belongs to the Julia/Juliet family is settled. What Julius itself meant is not: scholars have linked it to the Greek ioulos, 'downy-haired', and to Jupiter, the Roman sky god. The popular gloss 'youthful' comes from Latin iuvenis and is a later folk association rather than a demonstrated root.
Julius → Julia → Giulietta → Juliette → Julieta
How it traveled
The name begins with the gens Julia, one of the patrician families of the Roman Republic, whose women all bore the name Julia. Christian use spread Julia across Europe, and Italian gave it the affectionate diminutive Giulietta — the form behind the heroine of the sixteenth-century Italian novellas that Shakespeare reworked into Romeo and Juliet in the 1590s.
Meadow
A grassy field, especially one mown for hay
From Old English mǣd / mǣdwe, from the same Germanic root as the verb "mow" — the land's defining feature was that it was cut for hay rather than grazed or ploughed.
mǣd (Old English) → mǣdwe → medwe (Middle English) → Meadow
How it traveled
The word goes back to Old English mǣd, with its inflected form mǣdwe giving the shape we spell today; it belongs to the same root as "mow", so the oldest sense is land kept for cutting. Through Middle English medwe it settled into modern "meadow" and stayed an everyday word, which is why it needs no translating.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Julieta
hoo-lee-EH-tah
That is the Spanish pronunciation. English speakers commonly say joo-lee-ET-uh, on the pattern of Juliet. Both are in real use in the US, so it helps to decide early which one your family will offer first.
- Juli — The everyday short form in Spanish-speaking households; said HOO-lee.
- Julie — The English-language shortening, and a long-established given name in its own right.
- Julita — A Spanish affectionate diminutive, used within families rather than at school.
- Jules — Informal and unisex in English; used for Julia and Julian too.
- Also Etta.
Meadow
MED-oh
Said exactly like the ordinary English word, stress on the first syllable. The "ea" is short, as in "bread", not long as in "bead".
- Mead — The obvious clipping; also an English surname and the word for honey wine, so it reads as a nickname rather than a name on its own.
- Meadie — Affectionate, family-level use rather than anything official.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Julieta if you want…
- a name on the way upup 331 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itJulieta runs 3 syllables, Meadow 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Juli, Julie and Julita
Choose Meadow if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesMeadow is 2 syllables to Julieta's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Julieta
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in Spanish, and instantly recognizable in English through Juliet and Julia — few people will need it explained.
- Works in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Italian and French with only a change of ending, which matters in a bilingual family.
- Several established short forms already in circulation: Juli, Julie, Julita, Jules.
To consider
- Two pronunciations compete in the US — HOO-lee-EH-tah and joo-lee-ET-uh — and a child with this name will spend some of her life correcting people, or choosing not to.
- The Shakespeare link comes free: expect Romeo remarks, and a play whose ending is not cheerful.
- Julia, Juliet, Juliette and Giulietta all sit nearby, so the spelling will occasionally be assumed rather than asked.
Meadow
Strengths
- Spelling and pronunciation are settled by the dictionary — almost every English speaker can write it correctly after hearing it once.
- An ordinary English word with a documented line back to Old English, so the meaning is plain and uncontested.
- On American records for over a century, which puts it well ahead of most landscape names in longevity.
To consider
- For many adults the name still points straight to Meadow Soprano in The Sopranos. That association is fading with time, but it is the first thing some people will mention.
- It is rising fast. A child named Meadow now will very likely be the only one in her class, but the name may be considerably more familiar by the time she finishes school.
- There is no traditional short form and no formal-sounding variant, so Meadow is what she will be called in every setting, from the playground to a résumé.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Julieta and Meadow in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Julieta and Meadow?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Disney names on real birth certificates
- Nature names in real use
- Names with only one spelling
- Cottagecore names from a storybook garden
- all guides
Where Julieta and Meadow each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Julieta or Meadow — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Julieta or Meadow?
- Julieta, in 2025: Julieta ranked #285 with 1,086 babies; Meadow ranked #286 with 1,078 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Julieta or Meadow?
- Julieta. Over the last five years Julieta moved up 331 places; Meadow moved up 190 places.
- Which is the older name, Julieta or Meadow?
- Julieta entered the US charts in 1913; Meadow entered the US charts in 1914. On the American record, Julieta is the older name.
- How many people are named Julieta and Meadow?
- About 11,500 people named Julieta are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 12,000 people named Meadow are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Julietas or Meadows in the classroom?
- Julieta will almost certainly be the only one in school. Meadow will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Julieta, Meadow and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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