Julian
Feminine · “Of the Julii”
Julian is given to boys far more often — 264,985 boys against 3,306 girls since 1880. See Julian as a boy name
Julian is a Roman family name given to American daughters in small numbers in the nineteenth century — the same decades that gave girls Leo, Willie and Sidney. Its female peak is 1890, and the practice faded soon after.
How old is the name Julian?
Julian first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Julian alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 2,800 people named Julian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Julian most popular?
Julian peaked in 1890, reaching #1006 nationally. Today it ranks #5410, 4,404 places below that high. See the whole 1890 chart.
Where it comes from
From Julius to Julian
The story of Julian
The gens Julia gave Rome Julius Caesar and, through his adoption of Octavian, the whole Julio-Claudian line. Julianus produced saints, an emperor, and the anchoress Julian of Norwich, whose Revelations of Divine Love is the first book in English known to have been written by a woman — she took the name from the church she was attached to, and it was already a woman's name in England by then. That precedent aside, the American girls' use of Julian in the 1880s and 1890s belongs to the general unisex habit of the period rather than to her; Juliana and Julia took over the territory afterwards.
Meaningscholars disagree
Of the Julii; descended from Jupiter or from Iulus
Julianus is a derivative of the Roman gens name Julius, whose own origin is disputed: the family claimed descent from Iulus, son of Aeneas, and a connection to Jupiter has also been proposed. Neither is established. The reading youthful, from Latin iuvenis, is a later folk etymology and is not supported. The feminine Juliana is the ordinary form.
How the name formed
- Julius
- Julianus
- Julian
Related forms: Julianus · Julián · Julien · Giuliano · Julian
Pronouncing Julian
JOO-lee-un
Three syllables, stress on the first. Spanish Julián puts the weight on the last, hoo-lee-AHN, and French Julien is zhoo-lee-EN.
Nicknames for Julian
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 199781 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1006reached in 1890
- Change vs 2022
- −20.7%23 in 2025, from 29
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Julian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Julianus in Latin — related form
- Julián in Spanish — related form
- Julien in French — related form
- Giuliano in Italian — related form
- Julian in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Georgia, New York.
Julians among us
people named Julian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 69,881 born in 2025 was named Julian
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Julian
- #5410
- Julian on the 2025 chart
- #928
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Julian went to 23 girls in 2025, but Juliann is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 32, which makes it the 928th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,482 places above the chart.
- Julian23
- Juliann9
About 1 girl in 50,227 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 69,881 for Julian itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Julian sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Julian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Julian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Jules and Julie are both ready-made short forms.
- It has an unbroken European history running two thousand years.
- Everyone can say it on sight.
- It is overwhelmingly a boy's name in current American use.
- Juliana and Julia are the established feminines and will be assumed.
- The meaning of the underlying Roman name is not settled.
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What they receive
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Julian
Feminine · #5410 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Julians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Julian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Julian?
- Julian is the most-used spelling in US records — 23 of the 32 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Juliann.
- How popular is the name Julian in 2025?
- Julian ranks #5410 among US girl names in 2025, with 23 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Julian?
- About 1 in every 69,881 US girls born in 2025 was named Julian — 23 in all.
- Will my child share the name Julian with classmates?
- Julian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Julian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aina#5410 · Sherry#5410 · Kathia#5410 · Taj#5410 · Analicia#5410 · Divya#5410 · Halimah#5410 · Leo#5410
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Julian? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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