Jule
A feminine given name of German origin meaning "youthful" or "Christmas-born".
Name Census estimates that about 1,191 living Americans carry the first name Jule. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 58.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Jule today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jule births was 1918 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jule. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Jule sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 287,787 Americans
Peak year
1918
81 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,329
Tracked since 1881
Census
Jule in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,842 people with the first name Jule, which placed it at #7,998 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,998
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,842 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jule
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jule is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Black (13.8%) and Hispanic (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Jule described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Jule at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.9% · 1,343
- Black or African American13.8% · 254
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 125
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 59
- Two or more races2.3% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Jule
Jule is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,406 total registrations, 1,408 (41.3%) were male and 1,998 (58.7%) were female.
Jule as a male name
- Ranked #10,329 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (35 births)
Jule as a female name
- Ranked #12,797 in 2021
- 7 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1919 (54 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jule on both sides of the split. Of the 1,839 people counted with this name, 500 were male (27.2%) and 1,339 were female (72.8%).
Popularity
Jule: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jule from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 596 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jule by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Jule during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jules live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia recorded the most babies named Jule, while California, Michigan, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jule
The name Jule is derived from the Latin name Iulius, which was a Roman family name with origins dating back to ancient Rome. The name Iulius is believed to have originated from the Latin word 'iulus', meaning 'downy-bearded'.
During the Roman Empire, the name Iulius was borne by several notable historical figures, including the famous Roman dictator Julius Caesar (100-44 BC). Caesar's name and the Julian dynasty he established played a significant role in the popularity and widespread use of the name throughout the Roman world.
In the early Christian era, the name Jule was sometimes used as a variant of the name Julius, particularly in Germanic and Scandinavian regions influenced by Latin culture. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Jule is Saint Jule of Cerami (1556-1637), an Italian Roman Catholic priest and missionary.
Another notable figure with the name Jule was Jule Carr Bauers (1909-1987), an American painter and printmaker known for her work in the American Regionalist style. She was active in the mid-20th century and her works are held in several prominent art museums.
In literature, one of the earliest references to the name Jule can be found in the novel "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle" by Tobias Smollett, published in 1751. The novel features a character named Jule Monro, a Scottish merchant.
In the realm of music, Jule Styne (1905-1994) was an influential American composer and songwriter known for his contributions to Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. Some of his most famous works include "Gypsy" and "Funny Girl".
Jule Gregorius (1883-1948) was a Danish artist and painter, known for his landscapes and portraits. He was a prominent figure in the Danish art scene during the early 20th century and his works are displayed in several Danish museums.
People
Jule + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jule as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jule: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jule?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,191 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jule going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 287,787 US residents.
Is Jule a common name?
We classify Jule as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,406 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jule most popular?
The single biggest year for Jule was 1918, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jule is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jule in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,842 people with the name Jule, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,998 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Jule in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Jule?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jule on both sides of the split. Of the 1,839 people counted with this name, 500 were male (27.2%) and 1,339 were female (72.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Jule?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jule is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Black (13.8%) and Hispanic (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Jule most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jule in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.9% (1,343 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Jule in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jule a female name?
Yes, 58.7% of people registered as Jule in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Jule still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jule in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Jule can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Jule?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.