Humanverse

Jane vs Janith

American parents have registered 381,009 Janes since 1880, against 631 Janiths. Jane is still ahead, with 1,380 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jane against Janith, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jane Janith

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

Jane has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1942, when Jane had 5,731 and Janith had 36.

Side by side

  Jane Janith
Total US births 381,009631
Most in one year 9,96136
Babies in 2025 1,380under 5
Estimated living today 207,000340
Median age today 6977
Peak year 19471942
Best rank 36th girls1,349th girls
Rank in 2025 221stunranked
First recorded 18801913
Girls / boys 379,876 / 1,133631 / 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 Janiths alive today are over 77; half the Janes are over 69. That is 8 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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