Janetta vs Janie
American parents have registered 75,874 Janies since 1880, against 3,321 Janettas. Janie is still ahead, with 168 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Janetta Janie
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
Janie 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 1978, when Janetta had 49 and Janie had 303.
Side by side
| Janetta | Janie | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 3,321 | 75,874 |
| Most in one year | 70 | 1,853 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 168 |
| Estimated living today | 2,400 | 42,000 |
| Median age today | 56 | 66 |
| Peak year | 1954 | 1947 |
| Best rank | 1,197th girls | 161st girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 1,326th |
| First recorded | 1895 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 3,321 / 0 | 75,598 / 276 |
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 Janies alive today are over 66; half the Janettas are over 56. That is 10 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Janetta Oklahoma (11.9×), Kentucky (5.5×), Arkansas (4.1×)
- Janie South Carolina (5.8×), Mississippi (3.1×), Texas (2.9×)
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: Janetta and Janie.