Meaning: Its source is gisil beraht, an Old French name meaning "Bright promise."

Nickname For: Gilbert

Meaning: Its source is a Latin expression meaning "Jove's descendant."

Narrative: Some authorities prefer the meaning ''downy beard.'' However, this might have been understood as an attribute of Jove, the chief of the Greco-Roman gods.

The original form evolved into Julius, the Latin name of a Roman clan whose most famous member was the military and political leader Julius Caesar.