Julian

Julian comes from Latin. The Roman family name Iulianus meant "belonging to Iulius," so a Julian was, in the oldest sense, a person of the Julian line. The short meaning keeps that double register: należący do rodu Juliuszów and, more plainly, young. Latin gives us the root, and the sense of youth travelled with it, since Iulius itself was often linked to words for youthful strength.

The name spread across Europe and kept close cousins. In Polish records you find the variant Iulian, and for a daughter the form Julianna. Poland gave the name to Julian Tuwim, the poet born in Łódź in 1894, whose verse many children still learn by heart. Saint Julian the Hospitaller lent it a place in the church calendar too, which is why the name has its own imieniny.

Say "Julian" from a school class register and it settles easily between older and newer names. On his name-day a Julian might hear the old sense repeated back to him: młody, young. That is what the Latin left behind, należący do rodu Juliuszów.