Jeanny
A feminine French derivative of the name "Jean", meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 332 living Americans carry the first name Jeanny. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jeanny today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeanny births was 1976 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeanny. 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
332
~ 1 in 1,032,393 Americans
Peak year
1976
19 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2019 SSA rank
#16,596
Tracked since 1954
Census
Jeanny in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 753 people with the first name Jeanny, which placed it at #15,320 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
#15,320
National first-name rank
People counted
753
753 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
34.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeanny
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeanny is Asian/Pacific Islander at 34.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.8%) and White (23.5%). 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 Jeanny 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 Jeanny at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander34.4% · 259
- Hispanic or Latino32.8% · 247
- White23.5% · 177
- Black or African American6.4% · 48
- Two or more races2.4% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 4
Popularity
Jeanny: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeanny from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 101 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jeanny 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 Jeanny during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeannys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeanny
The given name Jeanny originates from the French language and dates back to the medieval period. It is a feminine form of the name Jean, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name was popularized in France during the Middle Ages and later spread to other parts of Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jeanny can be found in the 12th century French epic poem "The Song of Roland." In this literary work, a character named Jeanny de Lanson is mentioned as a brave knight who fought alongside Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass.
During the Renaissance period, the name Jeanny gained further prominence. One notable figure was Jeanny d'Arc, better known as Joan of Arc (1412-1431), the French peasant girl who became a military leader and was later canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church for her role in the Hundred Years' War.
In the 17th century, Jeanny Guyon (1648-1717) was a French mystic and writer who gained a significant following for her spiritual teachings and writings. Her autobiography, "La Vie de Madame Guyon," became a influential work in the Christian mystical tradition.
Another famous bearer of the name was Jeanny Antoinette Poisson, known as Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764). She was a prominent member of the French court and served as the official mistress of King Louis XV, exerting considerable influence over French politics and culture during her time.
In the 19th century, Jeanny Samary (1856-1923) was a renowned French actress who graced the stages of the Comédie-Française and other prominent Parisian theaters. She was celebrated for her performances in classical plays and comedies, and her portrayal of roles such as Célimène in Molière's "The Misanthrope" was widely acclaimed.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Jeanny, a name with deep roots in French culture and a rich historical legacy spanning centuries.
People
Jeanny + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeanny 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
Jeanny: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeanny?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 332 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeanny 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 1,032,393 US residents.
Is Jeanny a common name?
We classify Jeanny as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 366 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeanny most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeanny was 1976, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeanny is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeanny in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 753 people with the name Jeanny, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,320 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 Jeanny 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 Jeanny?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeanny leans strongly female. 743 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 9 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Jeanny?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeanny is Asian/Pacific Islander at 34.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.8%) and White (23.5%). 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 Jeanny most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Jeanny in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.4% (259 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 Jeanny in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeanny a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jeanny 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 Jeanny still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeanny 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 Jeanny 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 Jeanny as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Jeanny, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.