Juniper is also the name of the protagonist in Cartoon Network's The Life and Times of Juniper Lee that ran from 2005-2007.
― Anonymous User 8/12/2023
3
Juniper is the first name of the lead female character in the movie 'Benny and Joon", starting Johnny Depp and Mary Stewart Masterson. It's a really good falling-in-love movie! The character, nicknamed Joon, is a young woman on the autistic spectrum and also has PTSD from her parents' death when she was a child. Her over-protective older brother, who doesn't think she's capable of taking care of herself, lives with her. Then they meet this off-beat, sweet, unique, artistic guy who changes Joon's world and they fall into a forbidden-love type of relationship. It is such a good movie. It is the first time I had ever heard of the name Juniper. And I've loved it ever since. Makes me think of an of an artistic, dances-to-the-beat-of-her-own-drum type of girl.
I love the song "Jennifer Juniper" by Donovan. This is a good name if you love horticulture and as a child she could be called June/Junie.
― Anonymous User 8/15/2020
2
Brother Juniper is the protagonist in the frame story of The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. Several people are killed in the titular bridge's collapse, and Brother Juniper researches their lives to try and figure out why God allowed the collapse to happen - were the victims bad people and being punished? Were they virtuous and being brought to Heaven early as a reward? And of course the facts turn out to be much more complicated and confounding than that.In this case Juniper is being used as an Anglicization of the Spanish name Junipero (sorry, can't type it right with this keyboard). There's also a real-life Saint Juniper, a disciple of Saint Francis, and a Saint Junipero, who could easily be Anglicized to Juniper. I wish English-speakers were allowed to give this name to boys, but sadly, it seems that once a name becomes used for girls, sexists consider it "tainted" and bully any boy who has it, so parents are forced to avoid the name for their sons' sake.
Juniper has been used as a name since at least 1200 AD, when Saint Juniper, a follower of Saint Francis of Assisi, lived. The earliest uses were on males.
"The Life and Times of Juniper Lee" is a television show on the Cartoon Network about an 11 year old girl with magical powers who fights evil monsters.
Sources: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisex_name
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper_(given_name)?searchToken=767zveq9b8nwg4z49va73qw11