Janina
A feminine name of Polish origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 2,264 living Americans carry the first name Janina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janina today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janina births was 1980 (77 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janina. 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 Janina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 151,393 Americans
Peak year
1980
77 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,360
Tracked since 1911
Census
Janina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,970 people with the first name Janina, which placed it at #3,475 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
#3,475
National first-name rank
People counted
6.0K
5,970 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janina is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.5%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Janina 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 Janina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.1% · 4,362
- Hispanic or Latino15.5% · 925
- Black or African American5.5% · 326
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 230
- Two or more races1.9% · 115
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 12
Popularity
Janina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janina from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 571 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
Janina 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 Janina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Janina, while Maryland, Connecticut, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 82 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Janina
Janina is a feminine given name derived from the Latin name Janinus, which is a derivative of the name Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, transitions, and duality. The name Janus is believed to originate from the Proto-Italic word *ienōs, meaning "arched gateway" or "passage."
The name Janina is most commonly associated with Polish and Lithuanian cultures, where it has been in use for centuries. In Polish, Janina is a diminutive form of the name Joanna or Johanna, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Janina can be found in the 13th-century Polish chronicle "Chronica Polonorum" by Wincenty Kadłubek, where it is mentioned as the name of a Polish noblewoman.
Janina has been a popular name throughout history, with several notable bearers. One of the most famous was Janina Kondratiuk (1909-1992), a Polish-born Soviet World War II fighter pilot and one of the first women to become a combat aviator. Another notable Janina was Janina Bauman (1926-2009), a Polish-born writer and translator who was a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II.
In the world of literature, Janina Hosiasson (1925-2017) was a Polish-born French writer and translator who won the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1988 for her novel "The Lithographer's Workshop." Janina Ramirez (born 1980) is a British art historian, broadcaster, and author who has presented several television programs on art and history.
Janina Żeromska (1892-1963) was a Polish writer and translator who was the daughter of the renowned author Stefan Żeromski. She played an important role in preserving her father's literary legacy and promoting his works.
While the name Janina has its roots in ancient Roman and Hebrew cultures, it has found its most widespread use in Polish and Lithuanian societies, where it has been a popular choice for centuries. The name has been borne by notable figures throughout history, including writers, artists, and war heroes.
People
Janina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janina 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
Janina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,264 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janina 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 151,393 US residents.
Is Janina a common name?
We classify Janina as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,918 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janina most popular?
The single biggest year for Janina was 1980, when 77 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janina is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,970 people with the name Janina, or 1.98 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,475 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 Janina 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 Janina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janina appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,970 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 Janina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janina is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.5%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Janina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Janina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (4,362 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 Janina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Janina 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 Janina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janina 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 Janina 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 the name Janina?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Janina on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.