This long-established surname is of early medieval English origin, and derives from the medieval given name "Julian" (Latin "Julius", a Roman family name of uncertain etymology, but thought to be an adjectival derivative of "Iuppiter", genitive "Iovis", the supreme god, whose name is akin to words for "sky, light" and "day"). This name, popular throughout Europe, was borne in the Middle Ages in honour of various early Christian saints, particularly St. Julian the Hospitaller, patron saint of travellers. It first came to England in the late 12th Century, and was borne in the same form by women, whence the modern girl's name Gillian. One Julian de Horbelinghe was noted in Charters relating to the Gilbertine Houses, Lincolnshire, dated circa 1189. Early examples of the surname include: Roger Juliane (Cambridgeshire, 1273); Henry Julian (Suffolk, 1327); and Geoffrey Julyan, entered in the 1344 Close Rolls of London. Surnames derived from given names are the oldest and most pervasive surname type, and in vernacular naming traditions (as distinct from religious), names were originally composed of vocabulary elements of the local language, and no doubt bestowed for their auspicious connotations. The surname, with variant spellings Julian, Julien and Jullian, is now most widespread in Cornwall and Devonshire. On January 24th 1584, Thomas Julyan and Alse Brown were married at Fowey, Cornwall. A Coat of Arms granted to the family depicts, on an azure shield, a silver lion rampant wielding a sword proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Julien, which was dated 1200, in the "Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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