Jeannie
A feminine diminutive form of the name Jean, meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 26,284 living Americans carry the first name Jeannie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jeannie today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeannie births was 1957 (1,430 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeannie. 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 Jeannie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jeannie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 55 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
26K
~ 1 in 13,040 Americans
Peak year
1957
1,430 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1980 SSA rank
#5,677
Tracked since 1882
Census
Jeannie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 29,430 people with the first name Jeannie, which placed it at #1,268 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
#1,268
National first-name rank
People counted
29K
29,430 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeannie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeannie is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.0%) and Hispanic (7.3%). 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 Jeannie 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 Jeannie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.6% · 21,959
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.0% · 2,656
- Hispanic or Latino7.3% · 2,136
- Black or African American4.8% · 1,402
- Two or more races3.2% · 939
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 338
Gender
Gender distribution for Jeannie
Out of the 36,152 babies given the name Jeannie since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jeannie as a male name
- Ranked #5,856 in 1980
- 6 male births in 1980
- Peak: 1947 (6 births)
Jeannie as a female name
- Ranked #5,677 in 2024
- 22 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (1,424 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeannie appears almost entirely female. Of the 29,437 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jeannie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeannie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 9,807 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
Jeannie 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 Jeannie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeannies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jeannie, while Rhode Island, Nevada, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 648 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeannie
The name Jeannie is a feminine form of the French name Jean, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Graced by God". It emerged in Medieval France as a variant of the name Jeanne, which was a popular name among French royalty and nobility.
The name Jeannie can be traced back to the 12th century, when it was used as a diminutive form of Jeanne. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jeannie can be found in the French epic poem "The Song of Roland", which dates back to the late 11th century.
In the 16th century, the name Jeannie gained prominence in Scotland, where it became a popular name among the Scottish nobility. One notable figure was Jeannie Douglas, Countess of Angus (1498-1537), who played a significant role in the Scottish Reformation.
During the 17th century, the name Jeannie was popularized in England, where it was often used as a diminutive form of the name Jane. One famous bearer of the name was Jeannie Barclay (1648-1680), a Scottish noblewoman who was rumored to have been the mistress of King Charles II.
In the 18th century, the name Jeannie gained literary prominence through the works of Scottish poet Robert Burns. His poem "Comin' Thro' the Rye" features a character named Jeannie, who represents the idealized Scottish lassie.
Another notable figure was Jeannie Watts (1775-1854), an English actress and playwright who was known for her roles in comedic plays and her advocacy for women's rights.
In the 19th century, the name Jeannie was popularized in the United States, where it was often used as a diminutive form of the name Jane or Jean. One famous bearer of the name was Jeannie Lind (1820-1887), a Swedish opera singer known as the "Swedish Nightingale", who became a household name after her successful American tour in the 1850s.
People
Jeannie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeannie 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
Jeannie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeannie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26,284 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeannie 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 13,040 US residents.
Is Jeannie a common name?
We classify Jeannie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 36,152 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeannie most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeannie was 1957, when 1,430 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeannie is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeannie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 29,430 people with the name Jeannie, or 9.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,268 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 Jeannie 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 Jeannie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeannie appears almost entirely female. Of the 29,437 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Jeannie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeannie is White at 74.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.0%) and Hispanic (7.3%). 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 Jeannie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jeannie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.6% (21,959 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 Jeannie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeannie a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Jeannie 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 Jeannie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeannie 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 Jeannie 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 Jeannie as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.