Julian

The Latin Julianus descended from the Julii, Rome's great patrician clan, and its root hints at something unexpectedly tender — iulus, the first soft down on a young man's cheek. Across the centuries the name picked up emperors, apostates, and a fourteenth-century English mystic named Julian of Norwich who wrote the first book in English by a woman. Two syllables in English, three in Spanish, and graceful in both. Julian holds rank 30 in the United States, a quietly distinguished perch. The name carries a library about it — scholarly, a little romantic, comfortable in jeans or a tuxedo without ever feeling costumed.