Julio
A masculine name of Spanish origin meaning "downy-bearded youth".
Name Census estimates that about 57,579 living Americans carry the first name Julio. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Julio today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Julio births was 1990 (1,563 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Julio. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Julio with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Julio is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 422 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
58K
~ 1 in 5,953 Americans
Peak year
1990
1,563 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#598
Tracked since 1888
Census
Julio in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 124,932 people with the first name Julio, which placed it at #455 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
#455
National first-name rank
People counted
125K
124,932 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
41.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
95.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Julio
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Julio is Hispanic at 95.6%. The next largest groups are White (2.6%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Julio 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 Julio at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.6% · 119,452
- White2.6% · 3,294
- Black or African American0.9% · 1,070
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 806
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 156
- Two or more races0.1% · 154
Gender
Gender distribution for Julio
Out of the 63,756 babies given the name Julio since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Julio as a male name
- Ranked #598 in 2024
- 475 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (1,555 births)
Julio as a female name
- Ranked #15,385 in 2005
- 6 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1984 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Julio appears almost entirely male. Of the 124,934 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Julio: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Julio from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 13,939 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Julio 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 Julio during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Julios live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Julio, while Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,498 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Julio
The name Julio has its origins in the ancient Roman name Julius. It is derived from the Latin word "iu-lius," which means "downy-bearded" or "youthful." The name Julius was initially a Roman family name, but it gained widespread popularity after it was adopted by the famous Roman dictator, Julius Caesar.
The popularity of the name Julio can be traced back to the Roman Empire, where it was commonly used among the nobility and upper classes. It was a name that carried a sense of prestige and power, associated with the ruling class and the imperial family.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Julio gained further significance as it was borne by several notable figures, including Saint Julius, a Roman martyr who died in the 4th century AD. Additionally, the name was used by several Popes, such as Pope Julius I (337-352 AD) and Pope Julius II (1443-1513 AD), who is renowned for commissioning the famous artwork in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Julio can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Livy, who mentions a Roman general named Julio Ilius in his accounts of the Punic Wars (264-146 BC). Another notable historical figure bearing the name Julio was Julio Frontino, a Roman author, and engineer who lived during the 1st century AD.
Throughout history, the name Julio has been borne by several influential figures, including:
1. Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), an Argentine novelist and short story writer, renowned for his experimental writing style.
2. Julio Iglesias (born 1943), a Spanish singer and songwriter, known for his romantic ballads and numerous hit songs.
3. Julio César Chávez (born 1962), a Mexican professional boxer, considered one of the greatest boxers of all time.
4. Julio Gómez (1886-1973), a Mexican artist and painter, known for his murals and depictions of Mexican culture.
5. Julio César Ribeiro (1845-1890), a Brazilian physician and writer, famous for his novels and short stories portraying Brazilian society.
The name Julio has transcended its Roman origins and has been adopted across various cultures and languages, particularly in Spanish-speaking countries, where it remains a popular choice for boys' names.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Julio
People
Julio + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Julio 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
Julio: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Julio?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 57,579 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Julio 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 5,953 US residents.
Is Julio a common name?
We classify Julio as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 63,756 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Julio most popular?
The single biggest year for Julio was 1990, when 1,563 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Julio is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Julio in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 124,932 people with the name Julio, or 41.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #455 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 Julio 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 Julio?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Julio appears almost entirely male. Of the 124,934 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Julio?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Julio is Hispanic at 95.6%. The next largest groups are White (2.6%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Julio most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Julio in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.6% (119,452 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 Julio in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Julio a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Julio in the SSA data are male. 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 Julio still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Julio 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 Julio 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 Americans are named Julio?
See how many people have the name Julio on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.