June (given name)

Look up June in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

June is a female given name, but it is also used as a male given name in English-speaking countries. It comes from the name of the month, which is derived from Juno, the name of a Roman goddess.^[1] It is also a short form of the names Juniper, Junia, Junius and Junior.

June was a very popular girls name and somewhat popular boys name in the early to mid 20th century. As a girls name it reached a peak in 1925 as the 39th most popular girls name, but then gradually declined until it dropped off the top 1000 list of names in 1986. As a boys name, June reached a peak 1922 as 697th most popular boys, but then also declined and left the top 1000 list in 1939.

Junius was a popular boys name in the early 19th century, reaching a peak in 1908 as the 391st most popular boys name and leaving the 1000 list in 1950. Variant name Junious reached a peak in 1911 as the 744th most popular name and left the top 1000 list in 1923.

Junior remains a popular boys name, but reached a peak in 1925 as 117th most popular boys name.

Juniper has historically been used as both a boys and girls name. In the early part of the 20th century it was often seen as a boys name, likely due to Saint Juniper, but currently the name is more popular as a girls name. Juniper has never been on the top 1000 list, but is an increasingly popular name likely due to the popularity of a wide assortment of well known fictional works, including the cartoon series "The Life and Times of Juniper Lee", the movie "Benny and Joon" (where the Joon character was short for Juniper), and the novel "Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary".

Well known persons named June include:

• June Allyson, (1917–2006) an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s
• June Anderson, an American coloratura soprano
• June Atkinson, the North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction
• June Blair, (born 1933) an American model and actress best known for being Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month in January 1957
• June Bland, a British actress best known for her guest appearances in two Doctor Who serials
• June Brigman, an American comic book artist and illustrator
• June Bronhill, (1929–2005) an internationally acclaimed soprano opera singer
• June Brown, a British actress and director best known as Dot Branning in the BBC soap opera EastEnders
• June Callwood, a Canadian journalist and social activist
• June Caprice, (1895–1936) an American silent film actress
• June Carter Cash, (1929–2003) an American singer, songwriter, actress, member of the Carter Family, and the second wife of legendary singer Johnny Cash
• June Chadwick, an English actress best known for her role in the scien television series V: The Series
• June Christy, (1925–1990) an American Jazz Singer popular in the 1950s
• June Clark, a Professor of Community Nursing, at the University of Wales, Swansea
• June Cochran, (1942–2004) an American model and beauty queen
• June Croft (born 1963), a British freestyle swimmer
• June Downey (1875–1932), American psychologist
• June Duprez, (1918–1984) a British film actress
• June Ferguson, (1928–2004), an Australian athlete who won the silver medal in the relay 4x100 meter at the 1948 Olympic Games in London
• June Fletcher, a writer for The Wall Street Journal
• June Foray, an American voice actress who has worked for most of the studios which produced animated films since the 1940s
• June Gibbons, (born 1963) one of two identical twins whose story is a curious case involving psychology and language
• June Haimoff, an English environmentalist who settled in Dalyan in southwestern Turkey after her retirement
• June Harding, a child and teen actress who appeared in several 1960s TV shows
• June Haver, an American film actress (1926–2005)
• June Havoc, (1912–2010) an American actress, dancer, writer, and theater director
• June Hutton, (1920–1973) an American popular singer
• June James, American football player
• June Jones, an American football player and coach, currently with Southern Methodist University
• June Jordan, (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) an African-American bisexual political activist, writer, poet, and teacher
• June Lang, (1915–2005) an American film actress
• June Lloyd, Baroness Lloyd of Highbury, (1928–2006) a British paediatrician and, in retirement, a cross bench member of the House of Lords
• June Lockhart, (born 1925) an American actress best known as the mothers on Lassie and Lost in Space
• June MacCloy, (1909–2005) an American actress in the 1930s and 1940s
• June Marlowe, (1903–1984) an American actress best known as Miss Crabtree in six Our Gang short subjects
• June Maston, (born 1928) a retired Australian sprinter
• June Mathis, (1892–1927) a screenwriter and Hollywood executive in the 1920s
• June McCarroll, (1867–1954) a nurse (later a physician) who is credited with the idea of painting lines on highways to separate lanes
• June Miller, (1902–1979) the second wife of Henry Miller
• June Millington, in 1969 founded Fanny, the first all girl rock band signed to a major record label
• June Page, a British actress best known as Sally in the 1970s drama Survivors
• June Palmer, aka June Power, (1940–2004) a Harrison Marks model in the 1960s
• June Peppas, a professional baseball player for the AAGPBL from 1948 to 1954
• June Pointer, (1953–2006) an American vocalist best known for her work with The Pointer Sisters
• June Rowlands, the 60th mayor of Toronto, Ontario, and the first woman to hold that office
• June Salter, (1932–2001) an Australian actress
• June Sarpong, a British television presenter
• June Tabor, (born 1947) an English folk singer
• June Taylor, (1918–2004) an American choreographer
• June Tripp, sometimes known just as June, was a British actress
• June Tyson, (1936–1992) a jazz singer who performed with Sun Ra regularly
• June Vincent, (born 1920) a leading lady in low-budget movies of the 1940s
• June Walker, (1900–1966) an American stage and film actress best known for her roles in The Farmer Takes a Wife and Twelfth Night
• June Westbury, a politician in Manitoba, Canada
• June Whitfield, an English actress

Fictional characters

• June Cleaver, a fictional character in the US television series Leave It to Beaver
• June Motomiya (Jun Motomiya), a fictional character in Digimon Zero Two
• June Slater, a character in the American Soap Opera Loving
• Chameleon June, a fictional character in Saint Seiya
• June Iparis, a main character in the book Legend
• June, short for Juniper in the animated television series The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
• June, a character from the show KaBlam!
• June, a fictional character of the American animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang)
• June, one of the main characters in the Little Einsteins TV series

References

1. ↑ MFnames.com - Origin and Meaning of June