Jules

The name Jules is a boy's name of French, Latin origin meaning "youthful; soft, downy". Though Jules hasn't been on the US popularity list in fifty years, it is a current hit in its native France—where it's currently Number 10—and we can definitely see it making a comeback here, being far more romantic than, say, Jim. The glittering Jules has a solid history, attached to such cultural notables as author Verne, opera composer Massenet, painter Olitski, and cartoonist Feiffer, as well as appearing as a character in such iconic films as Pulp Fiction and St. Elmo's Fire and in Balzac's novel The Human Comedy and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. These days, Jules is also apt to be heard as a nickname for the feminine Julia or Julie, as in TV personality Jules Asner, the Keira Knightley character in Bend it Like Beckham, and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's wife—spelled Jools.