Janaki
A feminine Hindu name referring to Janaki, an epithet of the goddess Sita.
Name Census estimates that about 184 living Americans carry the first name Janaki. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janaki today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janaki births was 1981 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janaki. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Janaki with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
184
~ 1 in 1,862,795 Americans
Peak year
1981
9 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,656
Tracked since 1978
Census
Janaki in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 842 people with the first name Janaki, which placed it at #14,096 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,096
National first-name rank
People counted
842
842 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
88.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janaki
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janaki is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.6%. The next largest groups are White (5.3%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Janaki described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Janaki at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.6% · 746
- White5.3% · 45
- Two or more races3.3% · 28
- Black or African American1.8% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 8
Popularity
Janaki: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janaki from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 45 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Janaki remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Janaki by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Janaki during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Janaki
The name Janaki has its origins in Sanskrit, the ancient and classical language of the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "jana," meaning "people" or "subjects," and "ki," a feminine suffix. Thus, the name Janaki can be interpreted as "the one who belongs to the people" or "the people's daughter."
Janaki is a prominent name in Hindu mythology and is associated with Sita, the consort of Lord Rama and the central figure of the epic Ramayana. In the Ramayana, Janaki is a name given to Sita, as she was believed to have been born from the Earth, making her the "daughter of the Earth" or the "people's daughter."
The earliest recorded use of the name Janaki can be traced back to the ancient Sanskrit texts, including the Ramayana and the Puranas. It is believed to have been in use as a personal name for women in India since ancient times.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Janaki was Sita herself, the beloved consort of Lord Rama in the Ramayana. Her unwavering devotion, courage, and resilience have made her an iconic figure in Hindu mythology and a symbol of strength and virtue.
Another notable Janaki in history was Janaki Devi, the wife of the renowned Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary, Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945). She played a crucial role in the Indian independence movement and supported her husband's efforts towards achieving India's freedom from British rule.
Janaki Ammal (1897-1984) was an Indian botanist and cytogeneticist who made significant contributions to the field of plant breeding and genetics. She was the first woman to receive the prestigious Padma Shri award from the Indian government in 1977.
Janaki Visvanathan (1913-1962) was an influential Indian writer and social activist. She was a prominent figure in the Dravidian movement and wrote extensively on the struggles of the marginalized communities in South India.
Janaki Ramachandran (1923-2008) was a renowned Indian dancer and choreographer who played a crucial role in popularizing and preserving the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors, in 1967.
People
Janaki + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janaki as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Janaki: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janaki?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 184 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janaki going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,862,795 US residents.
Is Janaki a common name?
We classify Janaki as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janaki most popular?
The single biggest year for Janaki was 1981, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janaki is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janaki in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 842 people with the name Janaki, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,096 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Janaki in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Janaki?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janaki leans strongly female. 802 people counted with this name were female (95.2%), compared with 40 male bearers (4.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Janaki?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janaki is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.6%. The next largest groups are White (5.3%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Janaki most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Janaki in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.6% (746 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Janaki in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janaki a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Janaki in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Janaki still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janaki in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Janaki can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Janaki?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.