I’m always curious as to how people get their names from and if there’s any meaning behind that name. I used to go on one of those baby name websites just to look at names and their meanings. (Yes, I had too much time in my hand back then.)

So let’s dissect my name for now.

My name is Julie.

My dad gave me that name. He’s had two versions of the story.

  1. The myth: The funny version was funny when it was back in Indonesia, but not so much more when told in English. Basically, in the Indonesian language, the month of July is spelt “Juli” (pronounced: joo-lee, like my name I guess.) So since a young age, a lot of people have asked me, “oh were you born in July?” in which I answered “no” because I was born in March. Frustrated, I went and asked my dad why he gave me this name. His reply was, “you weren’t born then, but you were made in July.” Yes, go and count it. It’s close enough to 9 months.
  2. The truth: Ever since I could remember, the one movie that we used to watch as a family has always been The Sound of Music. It was like a holiday staple. In fact, I think I have watched it more than 15 times at least. And the main character, Maria Von Trapp, was played by a lovely actress called Julie Andrews. Supposedly my dad was/is a huge fan of hers and therefore chose that name for me. She is beautiful and full of grace, which shows that obviously just because you have the same name does not mean that you will automatically gain the same character traits.

Julie Andrews

That’s the history. As for the actual meaning of the name (taken from one of the baby name websites that I talked about), here goes:

English/Latin, “Youthful”
Sweet and chirpy, Julie is everyone’s favorite kid sister.

Personally I don’t really care about name meanings – same reason as above: just because you have the same name doesn’t mean you will have the same traits. But I do like the sound of being “youthful”… It sounds much better than being “immature” or “childish”. And as those who know me can testify, I am pretty much a child at heart.

So where did you get your name from – and what’s the meaning of your name?