The story in the numbers

257,331 boys have been named Julian in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2017, with 8,451 births — 0.46% of all boys recorded that year.

This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 2008, and the 2010s alone account for 31%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 25 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 3,283 girls have also been given it, 1.3% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Julian

440

558

793

4,650

6,897

4,860

5,157

4,829

4,835

6,801

12,934

27,676

60,389

79,516

36,996

In 2017, its biggest year

Julian was the 37th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 2017 were Liam, Noah, William, James and Logan. See all of 2017.

Names that rose and fell with Julian

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.