Jannetta
A feminine name of undetermined origin, perhaps related to Jane.
Name Census estimates that about 227 living Americans carry the first name Jannetta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jannetta today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jannetta births was 1956 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jannetta. 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
227
~ 1 in 1,509,931 Americans
Peak year
1956
15 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1991 SSA rank
#12,100
Tracked since 1920
Census
Jannetta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 280 people with the first name Jannetta, which placed it at #30,870 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
#30,870
National first-name rank
People counted
280
280 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jannetta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jannetta is White at 50.4%. The next largest groups are Black (40.7%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Jannetta 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 Jannetta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.4% · 141
- Black or African American40.7% · 114
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 10
- Two or more races2.9% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 7
Popularity
Jannetta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jannetta from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 71 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
Jannetta 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 Jannetta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jannetta
The name Jannetta is a feminine given name that originates from the Italian language. It is a variation of the name Giannetta, which is a diminutive form of the Italian name Giovanna. Giovanna itself is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious."
The earliest recorded use of the name Jannetta can be traced back to the Middle Ages in Italy. During this time, diminutive forms of names were commonly used as terms of endearment or affection. The addition of the suffix "-etta" to the name Giovanna created the diminutive form Giannetta, which later evolved into the spelling Jannetta.
While the name Jannetta does not appear to have been widely documented in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history. One such individual was Jannetta Reboulet (1696-1786), a French botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of plants and their taxonomy.
Another notable bearer of the name was Jannetta Carr (1861-1941), an American educator and suffragist. She played a crucial role in the women's suffrage movement in the United States and advocated for equal rights and educational opportunities for women.
In the world of literature, Jannetta Norris (1878-1950) was a Scottish novelist and short story writer known for her works portraying life in rural Scotland. Her novel "The Sma' Folk" was highly acclaimed and celebrated for its authentic depiction of Scottish culture and dialect.
In the realm of music, Jannetta Rebecka Gillberg (1768-1838) was a Swedish opera singer and actress who performed in various theaters across Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She was particularly renowned for her roles in works by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Another notable figure bearing the name Jannetta was Jannetta Almedingen (1892-1971), a Russian-born British writer and biographer. She wrote several biographies of notable figures, including Lord Byron and Mary Wollstonecraft, and her works shed light on the lives and contributions of these influential individuals.
People
Jannetta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jannetta 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
Jannetta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jannetta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 227 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jannetta 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 1,509,931 US residents.
Is Jannetta a common name?
We classify Jannetta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 324 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jannetta most popular?
The single biggest year for Jannetta was 1956, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jannetta is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jannetta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 280 people with the name Jannetta, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,870 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 Jannetta 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 Jannetta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jannetta appears almost entirely female. Of the 280 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Jannetta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jannetta is White at 50.4%. The next largest groups are Black (40.7%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Jannetta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jannetta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.4% (141 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 Jannetta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jannetta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jannetta 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 Jannetta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jannetta 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 Jannetta 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 common is the name Jannetta?
Want to know how many people share the name Jannetta? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.