Janson
Of Dutch origin, a patronymic name meaning "son of Jan".
Name Census estimates that about 1,120 living Americans carry the first name Janson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Janson today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janson births was 2016 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janson. 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 Janson with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 306,031 Americans
Peak year
2016
35 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,758
Tracked since 1958
Census
Janson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 983 people with the first name Janson, which placed it at #12,598 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
#12,598
National first-name rank
People counted
983
983 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janson is White at 66.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.8%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Janson 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 Janson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.2% · 651
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.8% · 116
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 84
- Black or African American7.9% · 78
- Two or more races4.6% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 9
Popularity
Janson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janson from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 242 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Janson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Janson 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 Janson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jansons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Kentucky, Texas recorded the most babies named Janson, while Pennsylvania, Texas, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Janson
The name Janson is a masculine given name of Dutch and Scandinavian origin, with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the biblical name John, which translates to "Yahweh is gracious" in Hebrew. The suffix "son" denotes "son of," indicating the name's meaning as "son of John" or "son of Yahweh's grace."
Janson emerged as a common name in the Netherlands and Scandinavia during the 13th and 14th centuries. Its popularity can be attributed to the widespread veneration of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, whose names were frequently bestowed upon newborns as a sign of reverence.
In the Netherlands, the name Janson appeared in various historical records, including civil registries and church documents. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Janson van Geldorp, a Dutch merchant and diplomat who lived in the late 15th century and served as an envoy to England.
Janson also found its way into Scandinavian cultures, particularly in Sweden and Norway. In Sweden, the name was often spelled as "Jansson," and it gained prominence during the 16th and 17th centuries. One notable bearer was Jansson Tuveson, a Swedish-born governor of New Sweden (present-day Delaware) in the mid-17th century.
Throughout history, several individuals with the name Janson have left their mark across various fields. One such figure was Joannes Jansonius (1588-1664), a renowned Dutch cartographer and publisher who produced numerous atlases and maps during the Dutch Golden Age.
Another notable bearer was Kristofer Janson (1841-1917), a Norwegian painter and illustrator known for his depictions of rural life and landscapes. His works captured the essence of Norwegian culture and played a significant role in the country's artistic renaissance.
In the literary realm, Janson Huizinga (1872-1945) was a Dutch historian and cultural theorist whose influential works, such as "The Waning of the Middle Ages," explored the transition from medieval to modern times.
The name Janson also found its way into the world of sports. Janson Löfqvist (1921-1995) was a Swedish ice hockey player who represented Sweden in the 1948 and 1952 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal in the latter.
Lastly, Janson Raphael Baarschers (1885-1975) was a Dutch-American painter and illustrator known for his works depicting the American West and Native American life. His paintings captured the spirit of the frontier era and are held in numerous museum collections.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Janson throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and disciplines.
People
Janson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janson 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
Janson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,120 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janson 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 306,031 US residents.
Is Janson a common name?
We classify Janson as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,153 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janson most popular?
The single biggest year for Janson was 2016, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janson is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 983 people with the name Janson, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,598 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 Janson 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 Janson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janson leans strongly male. 964 people counted with this name were male (97.2%), compared with 28 female bearers (2.8%). 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 Janson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janson is White at 66.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (11.8%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Janson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Janson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.2% (651 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 Janson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Janson in the SSA data are male. 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 Janson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janson 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 Janson 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 Janson as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Janson, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.