Janett
A feminine variant of the Hebrew name Jane, meaning "God is gracious."
Name Census estimates that about 2,480 living Americans carry the first name Janett. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janett today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janett births was 1991 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janett. 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
2.5K
~ 1 in 138,207 Americans
Peak year
1991
71 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,589
Tracked since 1911
Census
Janett in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,301 people with the first name Janett, which placed it at #5,259 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
#5,259
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,301 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
55.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janett
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janett is Hispanic at 55.5%. The next largest groups are White (28.0%) and Black (12.5%). 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 Janett 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 Janett at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino55.5% · 1,833
- White28.0% · 923
- Black or African American12.5% · 413
- Two or more races1.9% · 64
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 54
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 14
Popularity
Janett: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janett from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 529 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
Janett 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 Janett during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janetts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Janett, while Virginia, New Jersey, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 87 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Janett
The name Janett is a feminine given name derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, which means "Yahweh is gracious" or "God is merciful." The name has its origins in the ancient Middle East, and it has been used across various cultures and languages over the centuries.
During the early days of Christianity, the name was popularized and widely used among followers of the faith. It was common in the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Mediterranean regions, where it was often spelled as Ioannetta or Ioanetta.
In the Middle Ages, the name made its way to Western Europe, where it was adapted to different languages and spellings. In France, it was known as Jeannette, while in England, it took the form of Janette or Jenet.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the "Domesday Book," a great survey of England conducted in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The book mentions a woman named Jenet, who resided in the county of Lincolnshire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Janett or its variations. One of the most famous was Jeanne d'Arc (1412-1431), also known as Joan of Arc, the French heroine who played a pivotal role in the Hundred Years' War against England.
Another prominent figure was Jenet Rendlesham (c. 1515-1556), an English noblewoman and lady-in-waiting to Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII. Rendlesham was a supporter of the Protestant Reformation and was instrumental in helping to spread Protestant teachings in England.
In the realm of literature, Janette Oke (1935-2023) was a Canadian author known for her inspirational fiction and pioneering works of Christian romance. Her novels, such as the "Love Comes Softly" series, have been widely read and adapted for film and television.
In the world of sports, Janette Desautel (1912-1999) was a Canadian athlete who excelled in various disciplines, including track and field, basketball, and softball. She competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and won a silver medal in the 4x100m relay.
Lastly, Janette Bertrand (1925-2016) was an American physicist and computer scientist who made significant contributions to the development of early computer systems. She worked at companies like IBM and Bell Labs, and her work on programming languages and compilers helped shape the field of computer science.
People
Janett + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janett 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
Janett: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janett?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,480 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janett 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 138,207 US residents.
Is Janett a common name?
We classify Janett as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,535 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janett most popular?
The single biggest year for Janett was 1991, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janett is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janett in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,301 people with the name Janett, or 1.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,259 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 Janett 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 Janett?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janett appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,297 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Janett?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janett is Hispanic at 55.5%. The next largest groups are White (28.0%) and Black (12.5%). 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 Janett most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Janett in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.5% (1,833 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 Janett in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janett a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Janett 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 Janett still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janett 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 Janett 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 Janett?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.