Humanverse

Jan vs Janelly

American parents have registered 76,934 Jans since 1880, against 2,476 Janellys. Jan is still ahead, with 52 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jan against Janelly, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jan Janelly

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 119 years in which either name was published, Jan for 114 years and Janelly for 5 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Jan Janelly
Total US births 76,9342,476
Most in one year 3,761108
Babies in 2025 5249
Estimated living today 57,0002,500
Median age today 6715
Peak year 19562018
Best rank 136th girls1,869th girls
Rank in 2025 14,942nd3,211th
First recorded 19021986
Girls / boys 54,531 / 22,4032,476 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Jans alive today are over 67; half the Janellys are over 15. That is 52 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Jan and Janelly.