Julian or Julien

[FolkyFoxFace]

Late night pondering, as I feed my 6 month old...

Humour me!

I'm not planning on getting pregnant yet! But, I'm enjoying pondering the future. Have my girl's name (Astrid) and I like Julian for a boy. But I also like Julien.

Would it be weird in the UK to go for Julien as it's a soft sounding J?



I love name research. I'm so happy with my son's name, and I like history and language, so this is a bit of fun for me on my none sleeping Saturday night! I also have wine.

[SionnachRua]

Julian.

Julien just makes me think of chopped carrots. But I reckon you'd get away with it.

[FolkyFoxFace]

@SionnachRua

Julian.

Julien just makes me think of chopped carrots. But I reckon you'd get away with it.

Oooo, didn't think of the chopped vegetables thing! That's a point.

I do think it's very nice. I like saying it out loud, but then I think he has to for the rest of his life too.

Obviously this is entirely hypothetical as he could be a she and would be Astrid!

[BobsBurgersisthebest]

Julian

[YouTubeAddict]

Neither.

[winewolfhowls]

Love Astrid but I can't say Julian without doing a king Julian from Madagascar voice, sorry!

[earlydoors42]

I think people would pronounce it Julian, whichever way you spelled it? I thought they were the same.

[Mumontheschoolrun]

I think unfortunately either could lead to girl’s name type teasing unless you are in reasonably rarified social circles. I know a male Jules - great nn and really suits him. In some circles eg where my dp grew up you wouldn’t want to be called Julian in the playground. Confident kids won’t care and of course it’s stupid and unpleasant for anyone to tease about names.

Julien I think will be a struggle to attain compliance with correct pronunciation. I think most will go for exactly the same as Julian with the hard J sound. At the worse people might call him Julie-en so it sounds quite feminine to children’s ears. Shouldn’t be an issue in a sensible world. I think again in practise other kids might raise eyebrows unless you live in very international circles or an area with lots of mc names. Either way he will constantly be having to correct spelling.

[MaybeAMoaner]

It’s just to close to Julie
There are so many amazing boys names out there to choose.

[purpledagger]

Nothing wrong with Julien. I don't see why anyone would tease a child with that name because it sounds like 'Julie'. My children probably haven't heard the name Julie, because it's not a name that is common to their generation.

The only issue would be the pronunciation with the soft j. You will forever be correcting people.

[RampantIvy]

@earlydoors42

I think people would pronounce it Julian, whichever way you spelled it? I thought they were the same.

Same here.
How are they pronounced differently?

Re chopped carrots the term is julienne, with the emphasis on the "enne" part, so not sounding the same at all.

[Mumontheschoolrun]

There’s plenty of julies in the older age group - all female. Jools Oliver etc etc.

[Sparkletastic]

Jools Oliver is Juliette. Much nicer.

[KindergartenKop]

Julien with a soft J is a bit try hard if you're not actually french. I know someone with a child called Albert but pronounced in the French way. It's a bit cringe and he's now known as Bertie to get around this!

Julian is nice though, you don't hear it much. Very famous five!

[WhiskeyNeverStartsToTasteNice]

I think it would be pronounced Julian by most people however you spelt it so I'd go with the standard spelling.

[LowbrowVictoriana]

I prefer Julian, and really like the name.