Juliet is the English form of the Italian Giulietta, a diminutive of Julia, from the Roman family name Julius, and is usually read as "youthful" or "downy-bearded", from the Greek ioulos. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet made it the name of the world's most famous young lover, and Juliet is also the letter J in the NATO alphabet. Juliet has been in the US top 1000 all century, rose from number 623 in 2000 to a peak of number 228 in 2016 and ranks number 274 among girls' names in 2025.