Julien
A French surname from the given name Julien, ultimately from the Roman name Julius.
The #6,180 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 55,781 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Julien is the French form of the personal name Julian, which comes from Latin Iulianus, meaning “belonging to Julius” or “descended from Julius.” The deeper root is the Roman family name Julius, a very old name whose original meaning is uncertain. In surname use, Julien usually began as a patronymic: it identified someone as the son or descendant of a man named Julien or Julian.
History
The historical sources point to Julien as a surname formed from a common baptismal name rather than from a place or occupation. It is especially associated with French naming practice, and the same root has produced many related surnames and given names across Europe. In English-language records it appears alongside forms such as Julian, Jullion, and July, reflecting spelling variation and adaptation over time.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname shares its ancestry with the much older Roman name Julius, the family name of Julius Caesar.
From the historical record
“Boston (U.S.), 1, o, o, 1. Julian, Julien^ July an, July- ana. — Bapt. ' the son of Juliana,' from the martyr of that name, beheaded at Nicomedia under Gale- rius (Yonge, i. 320). Popular at an early period, both in the Low”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)