Janeanne
A feminine name of French origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 21 living Americans carry the first name Janeanne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janeanne today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janeanne births was 1961 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janeanne. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Janeanne. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
21
~ 1 in 16,321,635 Americans
Peak year
1961
6 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1966 SSA rank
#6,081
Tracked since 1953
Census
Janeanne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 227 people with the first name Janeanne, which placed it at #35,437 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
#35,437
National first-name rank
People counted
227
227 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janeanne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janeanne is White at 90.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.1%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Janeanne 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 Janeanne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.3% · 205
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 7
- Two or more races3.1% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 6
- Black or African American0.4% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Janeanne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janeanne from the 1950s through to the 1960s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 22 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Janeanne 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 Janeanne 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 Janeanne
The name Janeanne is a compound feminine given name that combines the names Jane and Anne. It is of English origin and emerged in the late 19th century.
The first part of the name, Jane, is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, which means "God is gracious." This name was brought to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066 and became popular as a female name. The variation Jane emerged in the 16th century as a diminutive form of Joan.
The second part of the name, Anne, is derived from the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor." This name was popularized by the New Testament figure Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. Anne was a common name in medieval Europe and was particularly popular in England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Janeanne can be found in the 1891 U.S. Census. While the name was not widespread in ancient times, it gained popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a combination of two classic feminine names.
Notable individuals named Janeanne throughout history include Janeanne Houston (born 1960), an American actress known for her roles in films like "The Milagro Beanfield War" and "Silkwood." There was also Janeanne Gilsdorf (1944-2015), an American writer and editor who worked for publications like the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.
Another individual named Janeanne was Janeanne Garbardina (born 1950), an American politician who served as the Mayor of Salinas, California, from 2006 to 2012. Janeanne Crowley (born 1949) was an American actress and model who appeared in films like "The Lords of Flatbush" and "The Choirboys."
Lastly, Janeanne Gilsdorf (1944-2015) was an American writer and editor who worked for publications like the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times, contributing to their travel sections and writing about various destinations around the world.
People
Janeanne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janeanne 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
Janeanne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janeanne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janeanne 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 16,321,635 US residents.
Is Janeanne a common name?
We classify Janeanne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 40.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 27 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janeanne most popular?
The single biggest year for Janeanne was 1961, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janeanne is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janeanne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 227 people with the name Janeanne, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,437 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 Janeanne 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 Janeanne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janeanne appears almost entirely female. Of the 221 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Janeanne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janeanne is White at 90.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.1%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Janeanne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Janeanne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.3% (205 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 Janeanne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janeanne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Janeanne 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 Janeanne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janeanne 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 Janeanne 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 Americans are named Janeanne?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.