Julian for a girl?

[InMyLittleHead]

I think it's quite androgynous, and have heard of girls being called Julian before (not many though). But is it too much of a boy's name?

have heard of Julieanne for a girl but it wouldn't be my cup of tea

although I'm of the camp if you love it use it, our DD3 has a name more commonly used for a boy and we love it

Is bound to cause continual confusion tbh

Julia
Juliette
Juliana
Julienne
Julie-Anne
Julianne

Not bloody Julian, it is a boys name.

I remember being surprised to find out that Julian of Norwich was a woman, she was a nun IIRC.

You - and she - would get sick to death of explainign that yes, her name really is Julian even though she's a girl. Might be good in a Leslie Ash sort of way, but personally I wouldn't make life more difficult.

yy Julian of Norwich indeed a woman

Well you are getting into Mother Julian of Norwich territory here. Depends how intellectual your circle is whether or not they get it.

Julianna would be better

Nope - don't do it. On paper people will always assume she is a boy/man... stick an 'ne' on the end or use one of the other suggestions here instead.

I love Julian for a girl but I am a ruddy great Catholic

Ridiculous.

I had a female Julian in my class @ school (early 80s).

Julianne is nice, Julian is boyish or butch.i

too many people would assume she was a boy if just see the name on paper, unfortunately, so it might make things tough for her

I used to work with a woman called Julian. People were always ringing and saying "will you ask Julian to call me when he's in?". Cue tedious explanation.

Even though Julian of Norwich was a fine woman, I wouldn't use the name for a girl.

Julian was actually exclusively a female name until a few hundred years ago and is unisex now, so go for it - but bear in mind people will inevitably think it's a male name as in the example above.

but we don't live in the middle ages or a few hundred years ago!. 99.9% of the population will view it as a male name and she will have a rough time of it explaining every single day of her life that she's female but with a male name. Do the right thing by her and feminize it to Julianne or Julienne

I wouldn't do it. My neighbour is a Gabriel (a woman). It is only convention and not any masculine sound that makes Gabriel a boys name, but we all know that it is, and she's been driven mad.

What about Juliet, or Julianne or Vivien.

Ilovepicolina, that is interesting about the nuns. I was reading a book by Mary Stanley called retreat a while ago, and the nuns routinely did that to girls if they considered their names "too pretty". They would take it upon themselves to issue new given names with less vanity.

I like Jules or Jude for girls, but Julian is too exclusively associated with boys I think, and could definately lead to lifelong confusion, explanation and "oh, I was expecting a bloke" scenarios.

I haven't come across the Mother Julian reference I'm afraid (imagine I'm not the only one) and would probably automatically assume she was a gent on CVs, etc.

I thought your finger must've slipped to include the n on the end.

Um no, only if you want her to be accosted with looks of puzzlement all her life. I think it would be cruel.

Julian is most definitely a boys name. Unless you meant Julianne?

No, I like it, because of the Dame Julian of Norwich connection, and I'd happily go for it. As CatInHat says, depends on how intellectual your circle is

I always thought Julian was too girly for a boy, so, yes for a girl