Janene
A feminine name of French origin, possibly derived from Jane or Jeanne.
Name Census estimates that about 2,774 living Americans carry the first name Janene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janene today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janene births was 1970 (231 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janene. 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
2.8K
~ 1 in 123,560 Americans
Peak year
1970
231 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2012 SSA rank
#17,971
Tracked since 1929
Census
Janene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,158 people with the first name Janene, which placed it at #5,447 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
#5,447
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,158 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janene is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Black (9.5%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Janene 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 Janene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.3% · 2,566
- Black or African American9.5% · 299
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 137
- Two or more races3.3% · 104
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 20
Popularity
Janene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janene from the 1920s through to the 2010s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,027 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Janene 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 Janene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Janene, while Wisconsin, Kentucky, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 69 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Janene
The name Janene is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the Hebrew name Jane, which itself is a variant of the name Joan. The name Jane is believed to have originated from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Graced by God" or "God is gracious."
The name Janene emerged in the early 20th century as a variant spelling of the more common name Janine, which is the French form of Jane. While the name Janene is not as widely used as Janine or Jane, it has been recorded throughout history.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Janene was Janene Willard, an American writer and journalist born in 1915. She was known for her works on travel and culture, including the book "The Nightway: A Journey into Navajo Life and Culture."
Another notable Janene was Janene Wolsey, an Australian actress born in 1937. She appeared in various television shows and films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including the TV series "Homicide" and the film "The Naked Bunyip."
In the literary world, Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard is a notable figure. Born in 1940, she is an American author and educator who has written several books on poetry and literature, including "Cooking in a Spiral" and "Daughters of the Light Quakers."
Janene Rendall, born in 1952, is a British artist known for her abstract paintings and mixed media works. She has exhibited her art in various galleries and museums across the United Kingdom.
In the field of sports, Janene Berger is an Australian former basketball player who represented her country in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics. She was born in 1964 and played professionally in Australia and Europe.
While the name Janene may not be as common as some other feminine names, it has a rich history and has been borne by notable individuals across various fields, from literature and art to sports and journalism.
People
Janene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janene 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
Janene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,774 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janene 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 123,560 US residents.
Is Janene a common name?
We classify Janene as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,545 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janene most popular?
The single biggest year for Janene was 1970, when 231 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janene is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,158 people with the name Janene, or 1.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,447 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 Janene 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 Janene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janene appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,158 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Janene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janene is White at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Black (9.5%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Janene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Janene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (2,566 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 Janene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Janene 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 Janene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janene 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 Janene 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 have Janene as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Janene, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.