Jane
A feminine name of English origin derived from the French version of Johanna, meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 180,860 living Americans carry the first name Jane. It sits at #269 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jane today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jane births was 1947 (9,960 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jane. 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 Jane with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jane is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,133 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
181K
~ 1 in 1,895 Americans
Peak year
1947
9,960 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2003 SSA rank
#269
Tracked since 1880
Census
Jane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 356,610 people with the first name Jane, which placed it at #140 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
#140
National first-name rank
People counted
357K
356,610 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
118.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jane is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Black (8.4%) and Hispanic (6.4%). 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 Jane 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 Jane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 277,666
- Black or African American8.4% · 30,019
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 22,900
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.4% · 19,205
- Two or more races1.5% · 5,367
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1,453
Gender
Gender distribution for Jane
Out of the 379,619 babies given the name Jane since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jane as a male name
- Ranked #11,652 in 2003
- 5 male births in 2003
- Peak: 1946 (36 births)
Jane as a female name
- Ranked #269 in 2024
- 1,180 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (9,942 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jane appears almost entirely female. Of the 356,607 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jane from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 83,095 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jane 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 Jane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the most babies named Jane, while Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,157 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jane
The name Jane is derived from the Hebrew name Johanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." It is a feminine form of the male name John, which gained popularity in medieval England. The name can be traced back to the 12th century in Britain, where it was a variant spelling of the French name Jehanne.
Jane is a name with deep roots in Christianity. Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641) was a French Catholic nun who co-founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. Her life and teachings influenced the spread of the name across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Jane Seymour (c. 1508-1537), the third wife of King Henry VIII of England. She gave birth to the future King Edward VI and was widely respected for her kindness and piety.
Another notable Jane in English history was Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554), who briefly reigned as Queen of England for nine days in 1553. Her tragic story and execution at the age of 16 made her a celebrated Protestant martyr.
In the realm of literature, Jane Austen (1775-1817) is one of the most famous Janes. The English novelist's works, including "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma," have been widely read and adapted for over two centuries.
Jane Addams (1860-1935) was an American social worker and leader in the settlement house movement. She co-founded the Hull House in Chicago and was the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
Jane Goodall (born 1934) is a renowned English primatologist and anthropologist, known for her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in Tanzania. Her work has revolutionized our understanding of primate behavior and has been instrumental in promoting conservation efforts.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jane
People
Jane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jane 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
Jane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 180,860 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jane 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 1,895 US residents.
Is Jane a common name?
We classify Jane as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 379,619 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jane most popular?
The single biggest year for Jane was 1947, when 9,960 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jane is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 356,610 people with the name Jane, or 118.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #140 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 Jane 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 Jane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jane appears almost entirely female. Of the 356,607 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Jane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jane is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Black (8.4%) and Hispanic (6.4%). 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 Jane most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (277,666 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 Jane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jane a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Jane 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 Jane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jane 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 Jane 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 are named Jane?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.