Julene
A feminine name potentially derived from the French name "Julie".
Name Census estimates that about 1,220 living Americans carry the first name Julene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Julene today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Julene births was 1958 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Julene. 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.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 280,946 Americans
Peak year
1958
56 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,318
Tracked since 1925
Census
Julene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,543 people with the first name Julene, which placed it at #9,134 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
#9,134
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,543 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Julene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Julene is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Julene 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 Julene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.8% · 1,216
- Black or African American11.1% · 171
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 68
- Two or more races2.5% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 16
Popularity
Julene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Julene from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 405 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Julene 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 Julene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Julenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Utah recorded the most babies named Julene, while Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Julene
The name Julene is a feminine given name that has its origins in the ancient Roman culture. It is believed to be a variant or diminutive form of the Latin name Julia, which was derived from the ancient Roman family name Julius. The Julius clan was one of the most prominent and influential families in ancient Rome, and the name Julia was widely used among the women of this family.
The earliest known record of the name Julia dates back to the 1st century BC, when it was borne by several notable women in Roman history, including Julia, the daughter of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar. Julia was also the name of several Roman empresses, including Julia Domna, who was the wife of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus in the 3rd century AD.
As the Roman Empire expanded and its influence spread across Europe, the name Julia and its variants, such as Julene, began to appear in various regions and cultures. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Julene can be found in the writings of the 6th century Byzantine historian Procopius, who mentioned a woman named Julene in his work "De Bello Gothico" (The Gothic War).
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Julene remained in use, although it was not as common as its parent name Julia. One notable bearer of the name was Julene of Norwich, an English mystic and anchoress who lived in the late 14th century and is known for her spiritual writings, particularly her work "Revelations of Divine Love."
In the Renaissance period, the name Julene gained popularity once again, particularly in Italy, where it was associated with the cultural and artistic flourishing of the time. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Julene de' Medici, a member of the powerful Medici family and the wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francesco I de' Medici, in the 16th century.
Another notable bearer of the name Julene was the French artist Julene Parmentier, who lived in the 17th century and was known for her still-life paintings and portraits. Her works can be found in museums across Europe, including the Louvre in Paris.
In the 19th century, the name Julene was popularized by the French author Jules Verne, who used it as the name of a character in his novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." The character, Julene Aronnax, was a fictional French naturalist and the narrator of the story.
While the name Julene has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has continued to be used in various cultures and regions, often as a variant or diminutive form of the more widely known name Julia.
People
Julene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Julene 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
Julene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Julene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,220 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Julene 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 280,946 US residents.
Is Julene a common name?
We classify Julene as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,715 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Julene most popular?
The single biggest year for Julene was 1958, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Julene is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Julene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,543 people with the name Julene, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,134 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 Julene 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 Julene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Julene appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,540 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Julene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Julene is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.1%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Julene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Julene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (1,216 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 Julene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Julene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Julene 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 Julene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Julene 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 Julene 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 have Julene as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Julene, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.