Remember that “Julia Guglia” punchline from The Wedding Singer? It came up in conversation the other day, and it made me wonder: what other -ulia names are out there?
I don’t mean familiar Julia-variants like Giulia, Yulia, and Iulia. We already know that these exist. I mean new names coined by adding a different first letter to the tail -ulia — the same way all those different -ayden names cropped up during the -ayden craze.
So have there been -ulia names that aren’t related to Julia? Sure have. Here are the ones I found in the SSA data:
- Eulia. Eulia pops up most often in the 1920s, which is when Eu- names like Eunice, Eugenia, Eula and Eulalia were relatively popular.
- Kulia. This one is a borderline case. Kulia is technically a Julia-variant, being a Hawaiian form of Julia, but the initial sound is totally different. (There’s no J-sound in Hawaiian.)
- Lulia. Like Eulia, Lulia saw usage in the early 1900s when similar names like Lula and Lulu were common. Unlike Eulia, Lulia has since returned to the charts, no doubt thanks to the current trendiness of Lily and the like. This name is also a Hawaiian form of Lydia.
- Sulia. Sulia, which reminds me of Sula, short for Ursula, popped up once in 1991.
- Tulia. Tulia, which reminds me of Tulip, has been on the charts several times since turn of the century.
- Zulia. Like Sulia, Zulia has only appeared in the data once so far.
Ulia by itself has also been used as a name before, though it’s never been in the data. Going back to Hawai’i one last time, Ulia is both a Hawaiian form of Uriah and a Hawaiian word meaning “accident.”
And here are even more obscure-but-real variants I’ve gathered from the U.S. Census: Aulia, Blulia, Brulia, Bulia, Chulia, Clulia, Crulia, Culia, Drulia, Dulia, Flulia, Frulia, Fulia, Ghulia, Glulia, Grulia, Gulia, Hulia, Llulia, Mulia, Nulia, Oulia, Phulia, Plulia, Prulia, Pulia, Qulia, Rulia, Schulia, Sculia, Shulia, Smulia, Snulia, Spulia, Stulia, Thrulia, Thulia, Trulia, Uulia, Vulia, Whulia, Wulia, Xhulia, Xulia, and Zhulia.
Which of the above -ulia names above do you like best?
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