Of Latin origin.
A feminine and masculine name.
June derives from Juno, the Roman chief goddess, queen of heaven and protectress of all things connected with marriage.
She was also called “Regina”, meaning queen, because she was considered the patron goddess of the Roman Empire.
June is also associated with the name Junius, from the Junia Roman gens, which was an ancient Roman family.
According to several etymology experts, June is associated with the roots of the words ‘love’ and ‘youth’.
It is a name also connected with the Greek ‘αιών’ (aion), meaning ‘century’ and is associated with concepts such as vitality and fertility.
Alternative feminine forms of the name are Juneau, Junia, Junot.
Alternative masculine forms of the name are Junius, Juno, Junto.
Famous female bearers are June Carter Cash, June Anderson, June Pointer, June Allyson, June Squibb, June Lockhart, June Christy.
Famous male bearers are June Jones, June Yamagishi.
Additional information concerning the Ancient Roman naming system:
According to the Roman naming rules, the basic elements of Roman names were three. A “praenomen”, a “nomen”, and a “cognomen”.
A “praenomen” was the first name, indicating the personal name.
A “nomen” was the second name, indicating the ‘gens’ to which the bearer of the name belonged to. Gens, meaning the group of families sharing a common “nomen”.
“Nomen” would stand as the group of loosely connected families claiming common ancestors. “Nomen” were always patrilinear, meaning from the father.
A “cognomen” was the third name and was something like the surname. Cognomina (plural of cognomen) were usually inherited. They were rarely given to the bearer by general consensus by the prominent members of the community.
There were several types of “cognomina”, such as geographical, adoptive, occupational, etc. In very rare cases the “cognomina” could be metronymic, meaning from the mother’s “nomen