Jannell
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "little gracious one".
Name Census estimates that about 782 living Americans carry the first name Jannell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jannell today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jannell births was 1980 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jannell. 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
782
~ 1 in 438,305 Americans
Peak year
1980
30 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2017 SSA rank
#16,937
Tracked since 1932
Census
Jannell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 800 people with the first name Jannell, which placed it at #14,659 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
#14,659
National first-name rank
People counted
800
800 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jannell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jannell is White at 49.6%. The next largest groups are Black (24.9%) and Hispanic (17.9%). 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 Jannell 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 Jannell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.6% · 397
- Black or African American24.9% · 199
- Hispanic or Latino17.9% · 143
- Two or more races3.4% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 8
Popularity
Jannell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jannell from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 177 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jannell 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 Jannell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jannells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jannell
The name Jannell is thought to have its origins in the French language, stemming from the Old French word "janelle," which meant a small window or aperture. This name likely emerged during the Middle Ages in France, between the 5th and 15th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Jannell can be found in historical records from the 12th century, where it was used to refer to a young woman living in the Normandy region of France. The name's connection to a small window or aperture may have been symbolic, representing the idea of a person being a window or gateway to new experiences or perspectives.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Jannell. One such person was Jannell de Montfort, a French noblewoman who lived in the 13th century and was known for her involvement in the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France.
Another historical figure named Jannell was Jannell d'Arc, a 15th-century French peasant girl who claimed to have received visions from God, inspiring her to lead the French army in several important battles during the Hundred Years' War. Though her name is more commonly spelled as Jeanne, some historical records refer to her as Jannell.
In the 16th century, there was a Jannell de Valois, a French courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine de' Medici. She was known for her involvement in the French Renaissance and her patronage of the arts.
Moving to the 17th century, Jannell de La Barre was a French philosopher and writer who was a vocal advocate for religious tolerance and freedom of thought during the Age of Enlightenment.
Finally, in the 19th century, Jannell Durand was a French artist and sculptor who gained recognition for her works depicting scenes from everyday life and her contributions to the Realist movement in art.
While the name Jannell has its roots in the French language and culture, it has since been adopted and used in various other cultures and regions around the world, with its meaning and significance evolving over time.
People
Jannell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jannell 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
Jannell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jannell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 782 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jannell 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 438,305 US residents.
Is Jannell a common name?
We classify Jannell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 895 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jannell most popular?
The single biggest year for Jannell was 1980, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jannell is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jannell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 800 people with the name Jannell, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,659 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 Jannell 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 Jannell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jannell appears almost entirely female. Of the 795 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Jannell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jannell is White at 49.6%. The next largest groups are Black (24.9%) and Hispanic (17.9%). 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 Jannell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jannell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.6% (397 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 Jannell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jannell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jannell 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 Jannell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jannell 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 Jannell 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 Jannell as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.