Juliet

How to say it

/ˈdʒuː.li.ət/

What it means

The English form of the Italian Giulietta, a little-one diminutive of Giulia (Julia), from the Roman Julius.

Juliet traces back through the Italian Giulietta and French Juliette to Julia and the Roman family name Julius, often glossed as 'youthful.' Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet fixed it in the language as the name of the doomed teenage heroine, and it has carried that romantic weight ever since. The corpus already holds the French Juliette; Juliet is its trimmer English twin. Jules and Etta both work as shorts.

Heads-up notes

• Spelling

  Juliet and Juliette are the same name; the single-t English form reads a touch more classic, the French -ette a touch softer.

• Pop culture

  Shakespeare's Juliet Capulet is the inescapable reference; for most parents that is the appeal.

Who's worn it

Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.

• Juliet Capulet the heroine of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
• Juliet Stevenson English stage and screen actress

Spelling variants

• Juliette
• Giulietta
• Julieta

Names with the same feeling

• Juliette Youthful
• Julia Youthful, of the Julii
• Juliana Youthful
• Julian Youthful, or 'of the Julii'
• Eliana My God has answered

See Juliet from another angle