Janette
Feminine diminutive form of Jane, meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 21,772 living Americans carry the first name Janette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janette today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janette births was 1953 (699 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janette. 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 Janette with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,743 Americans
Peak year
1953
699 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1990 SSA rank
#4,804
Tracked since 1880
Census
Janette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 26,924 people with the first name Janette, which placed it at #1,339 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
#1,339
National first-name rank
People counted
27K
26,924 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janette is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.0%) and Black (9.0%). 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 Janette 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 Janette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.3% · 15,152
- Hispanic or Latino28.0% · 7,531
- Black or African American9.0% · 2,410
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 1,093
- Two or more races2.2% · 603
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 135
Gender
Gender distribution for Janette
Out of the 32,189 babies given the name Janette since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Janette as a male name
- Ranked #8,682 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1986 (10 births)
Janette as a female name
- Ranked #4,804 in 2024
- 28 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1953 (699 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janette appears almost entirely female. Of the 26,925 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Janette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janette 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 6,097 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
Janette 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 Janette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Janette, while New Hampshire, Hawaii, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 598 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Janette
The name Janette is a French feminine form of the name Jeanne, which is the French variant of the Hebrew name Johanan or John, meaning "Yahweh is gracious" or "God is gracious." The name Jeanne became popular in France during the Middle Ages, and the diminutive form Janette emerged as a pet name or nickname for Jeanne.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Janette can be found in the 14th century French text "Le Roman de la Rose," where a character named Janette is mentioned. The name gained further prominence in the 15th century with the legendary figure of Joan of Arc, whose French name was Jeanne d'Arc. While her name was Jeanne, the diminutive form Janette may have been used affectionately by her contemporaries.
In the 17th century, the name Janette appeared in various literary works, including the play "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" by Molière, where a character named Janette is featured. During this time, the name was particularly popular among the French nobility and upper classes.
One notable historical figure with the name Janette was Janette Renault (1854-1931), a French feminist and educator. She was a pioneer in women's education and founded several schools for girls in France.
Another notable Janette was Janette Oke (1935-2023), a Canadian author of Christian fiction and pioneer fiction novels. Her books, such as the "Love Comes Softly" series, have been widely popular and have been adapted into several television movies and series.
In the United States, Janette Rankin (1880-1973) was a pioneering politician and activist. She was the first woman elected to the United States Congress, serving as a Representative from Montana in 1917 and again from 1941 to 1943.
Janette Husárová (1938-2022) was a Slovak actress and singer, known for her roles in numerous films and television series in Czechoslovakia and later Slovakia. She was a prominent figure in the cultural life of her country.
Janette Turner Hospital (born 1942) is an Australian novelist and scholar, known for her works exploring themes of identity, displacement, and cross-cultural encounters. Her novels, such as "The Last Magician" and "Orpheus Lost," have received critical acclaim.
People
Janette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janette 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
Janette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21,772 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janette 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 15,743 US residents.
Is Janette a common name?
We classify Janette as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32,189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janette most popular?
The single biggest year for Janette was 1953, when 699 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janette is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 26,924 people with the name Janette, or 8.91 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,339 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 Janette 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 Janette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janette appears almost entirely female. Of the 26,925 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 Janette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janette is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.0%) and Black (9.0%). 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 Janette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Janette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.3% (15,152 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 Janette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janette a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Janette 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 Janette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janette 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 Janette 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 Janette?
Want to know how many people share the name Janette? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.