Julie
English, from Latin: Feminine form of Julius, the name of an ancient Roman family. It is usually read as 'of the Julius family.' What Julius itself first meant is not known for certain.
Pronounced JOO-lee
Where the name comes from
- English, from LatinFeminine form of Julius, the name of an ancient Roman family. It is usually read as 'of the Julius family.' What Julius itself first meant is not known for certain.Latin Iulia, the feminine of Iulius (Julius)Julie is the English form of Julia. Julia comes from Latin Iulia, the feminine form of Iulius. Iulius was the name of a noble Roman family. Scholars say its deeper origin is uncertain. One theory links it to an old Latin form meaning 'pertaining to or descended from Jove' (Jupiter, the Roman sky god). The Romans themselves linked it to a Greek word meaning 'downy-bearded.' A scholarly source says there is little evidence for that idea. Meanings like 'youthful' or 'downy' are popular meanings, not proven ones.
Julie across traditions
- Ancient Roman. Julia was the name given to women of the Julius family, the noble Roman clan of Julius Caesar. Roman women usually took the feminine form of their family's name.
- Christian. A woman named Julia is greeted in Paul's Letter to the Romans (Romans 16:15). She was a Christian at Rome about 1,970 years ago. The name was later borne by early saints and martyrs, including a saint from the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) about 1,700 years ago.
- Spanish and Latin American. In Spanish the name is Julia, pronounced HOO-lyah. The masculine form is Julio. Medieval records show Julia in Spain in a Latin document from about 1,070 years ago. It also appears in a Catalan record from Valencia in 1510.
- American. Julie was a top girls' name in the US in the 1960s and 1970s. It ranked #18 in both decades, with its peak decade in the 1960s (SSA). Across 1926 to 2025, it ranks #51 among all US girls' names.
Who carried it
- Julius Caesar (about 2,070 years ago): Roman dictator and the most famous member of the Julius family. Julia, and so Julie, comes from his family's name.
- Julia of Rome (about 1,970 years ago): A Christian woman in Rome. Paul greets her by name in his Letter to the Romans.
Forms in other languages
Julia, Juliet, Juliette, Giulia, Giulietta
Julie in letter-number systems
Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.
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