Julian
Masculine · “Of the family of Julius”
Julian is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 264,985 boys against 3,306 girls since 1880. See Julian as a girl name
Julian comes down from the Roman family name Iulius by way of its adjective form Iulianus, and it has been in continuous use in Europe for something like sixteen centuries. A fourth-century Roman emperor carried it; so did an English anchoress of the fourteenth century, Julian of Norwich, in an age when the spelling served both men and women. In the mouth it is three easy syllables that flatten to two, JOOL-yun, with the stress landing on the first and nothing left to trip over.
How old is the name Julian?
Julian was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Julian alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 239,000 people named Julian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Julian most popular?
Julian peaked in 2025, reaching #25 nationally. Today it ranks #25, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Julian appears on these lists:
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Gorgeous — and about to be everywhere
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- Three-syllable names with room to move
- all guides
Works in Spanish & Latino families too:
Where it comes from
From Iulius to Julian
The story of Julian
The Julii were one of the old Roman clans, and Latin regularly built adjectives from such names: Iulius gave Iulianus, 'belonging to Julius'. It became a personal name in its own right across the late Roman world, worn by the emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus in the fourth century and by several early saints, which carried it intact into medieval Europe. English took it up in the Middle Ages for both sexes, while French kept Julien, Spanish Julián and Italian Giuliano. The same root still sits in ordinary English words — the Julian calendar, named for Julius Caesar.
Meaning
Of the family of Julius
Julian is the Latin Iulianus, formed from Iulius — so the derivation is clear. What Iulius itself meant is not: the two long-standing proposals connect it to Greek ioulos, 'downy-bearded', or to the god Jupiter. Neither has won.
Cultural footprint
Julian Barnes (b. 1946) — Booker Prize-winning novelist
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Iulius
- Iulianus
- Julien
- Julian
Related forms: Julien · Julián · Giuliano · Julião · Iulian · Yulian
Pronouncing Julian
JOOL-yun
Also said JOO-lee-un, with three distinct syllables; both are standard in American English. The Spanish Julián stresses the last syllable, hoo-lee-AHN, and French Julien is zhoo-LYAN.
Nicknames for Julian
High
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 20198,443 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #25reached in 2025
- Change vs 2022
- +4.1%7,603 in 2025, from 7,305
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
- Julien in French — same name
- Julián in Spanish — same name
- Giuliano in Italian — same name
- Julião in Portuguese — same name
- Iulian in Romanian — spelling variant
- Yulian in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Julians among us
people named Julian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 225 born in 2025 was named Julian
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Bruce test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Julian's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bruce climbed just as high around 1952, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bruce's path sketches the road Julian is walking now.
Julian is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Julian is headed
Julian should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Julian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Julian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An unbroken written record from Roman antiquity to the present, with no gap where the name had to be revived.
- The English spelling is the one most Americans already know, and it needs no repeating or correcting in most rooms.
- Travels well: Julián, Julien, Giuliano and Iulian are the same name, recognizable across Romance-language families.
- Jules is a ready-made short form with centuries behind it, so the name works long or clipped.
- It is high on the American charts and still climbing, strongest in the largest states, so a shared classroom is a realistic possibility rather than a remote one.
- Julian, Julien and Julián are three living spellings of one name, and people who know the others may default to the wrong one in writing.
- Jules is also the usual short form for Julia, Julie and Juliette, so it does not stay unambiguous in mixed company.
- The prominent modern bearers are spread across physics, fiction, football and journalism, which means no single figure defines the name either way.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Julian
Masculine · #25 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 239,000 people named Julian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Julian in 2025?
- Julian ranks #25 among US boy names in 2025, with 7,603 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Julian?
- About 1 in every 225 US boys born in 2025 was named Julian — 7,603 in all.
- Will my child share the name Julian with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 9 classrooms will have a child named Julian.
Ranked beside Julian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Santiago#26 · Ethan#24 · John#23 · Cooper#27 · Daniel#22 · Asher#28 · Michael#21 · Joseph#29
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Julian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Julian and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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