Janele
A feminine name of French origin, a variant of the name Janelle.
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Janele. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janele today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janele births was 1978 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janele. 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.
People living today
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
1978
14 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2008 SSA rank
#18,713
Tracked since 1956
Census
Janele in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 363 people with the first name Janele, which placed it at #25,907 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
#25,907
National first-name rank
People counted
363
363 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janele
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janele is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Hispanic (16.5%). 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 Janele 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 Janele at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.7% · 213
- Black or African American18.2% · 66
- Hispanic or Latino16.5% · 60
- Two or more races4.1% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 9
Popularity
Janele: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janele from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 88 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Janele 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 Janele during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janeles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Janele
The name Janele is believed to have its origins in the ancient Germanic languages, specifically in the Old Norse and Old English dialects. It is thought to be a combination of two words: "jan," which means "gift" or "blessing," and "ele," which translates to "noble" or "exalted." Thus, the name Janele could be interpreted as "noble gift" or "exalted blessing."
In the early medieval period, variations of the name, such as Janela and Janelle, were found in historical records and manuscripts across Northern Europe, particularly in regions where Germanic tribes had settled. Some scholars suggest that the name may have been influenced by the Old French name Janette, which was a diminutive form of Jane, derived from the Hebrew name Johanna.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Janele can be traced back to a 12th-century manuscript from an Anglo-Saxon monastery, where a nun was referred to as "Janele the Blessed." In the 13th century, a noblewoman from the Kingdom of Mercia, in present-day England, was known as Lady Janele de Warwick.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Janele. In the 16th century, Janele van der Velde (1525-1598) was a renowned Dutch painter and engraver known for her portraits and religious works. In the 18th century, Janele von Schönberg (1742-1808) was a German composer and music teacher who influenced the development of classical music in her time.
Another famous bearer of the name was Janele Beauchamp (1876-1944), a French archaeologist and Egyptologist who made significant contributions to the study of ancient Egyptian artifacts and hieroglyphics. In the 20th century, Janele Arndt (1901-1976) was a pioneering Australian aviator and one of the first women to obtain a commercial pilot's license in her country.
More recently, Janele Simmons (born 1962) is an American author and journalist who has written extensively on social and political issues, while Janele Monáe (born 1985) is a critically acclaimed American singer, songwriter, and actress known for her innovative blend of various musical genres.
People
Janele + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janele 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
Janele: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janele?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janele 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 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Janele a common name?
We classify Janele as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 256 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janele most popular?
The single biggest year for Janele was 1978, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janele is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janele in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 363 people with the name Janele, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,907 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 Janele 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 Janele?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janele appears almost entirely female. Of the 361 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Janele?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janele is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Hispanic (16.5%). 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 Janele most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Janele in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.7% (213 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 Janele in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janele a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Janele 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 Janele still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janele 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 Janele 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 Janele?
Want to know how many Americans are named Janele? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.