Jannet
A feminine name of French origin meaning "God's gracious gift".
Name Census estimates that about 2,029 living Americans carry the first name Jannet. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jannet today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jannet births was 1990 (84 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jannet. 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
2.0K
~ 1 in 168,928 Americans
Peak year
1990
84 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,241
Tracked since 1921
Popularity
Jannet: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jannet from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 581 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
Jannet 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 Jannet during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jannets live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jannet, while Florida, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 229 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jannet
The name Jannet has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the masculine name Joannes, which in turn comes from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Western Europe.
Jannet is a feminine variant of the more common John, and its earliest recorded use can be traced back to the 12th century in various regions of France and England. The name was often spelled in various ways, including Jannette, Janetta, and Jannet.
In medieval literature, one of the earliest references to the name Jannet can be found in the 13th-century English romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," where a character named Jannet appears as a maiden at King Arthur's court.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Jannet. One of the earliest examples is Jannet Douglas, a 15th-century Scottish noblewoman who married Sir Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell, and played a significant role in Scottish politics during the reign of King James III.
Another prominent figure was Jannet Geddes, a Scottish presbyterian who, in 1637, reportedly threw a stool at the minister in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, sparking the beginnings of the Bishops' Wars and the eventual outbreak of the English Civil War.
In the 17th century, Jannet Rendall was a famous Scottish poet and author, known for her work "The Poetical Recreations of Mrs. Jannet Rendall," published in 1692. She was one of the earliest known female poets in Scotland.
During the 18th century, Jannet Keith, Countess of Galloway, was a Scottish aristocrat who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne and played a significant role in the social and political circles of the time.
In the 19th century, Jannet Rennie was a Scottish botanist and artist, known for her contributions to the study of mosses and her intricate botanical illustrations.
While the name Jannet has become less common in modern times, it has a rich history spanning centuries, with notable bearers from various walks of life, including nobility, literature, religion, and science.
People
Jannet + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jannet 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
Jannet: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jannet?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,029 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jannet 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 168,928 US residents.
Is Jannet a common name?
We classify Jannet as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,318 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jannet most popular?
The single biggest year for Jannet was 1990, when 84 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jannet is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jannet a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jannet 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.
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.