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Janice vs Jantzen

American parents have registered 407,605 Janices since 1880, against 720 Jantzens. Janice is still ahead, with 70 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Janice against Jantzen, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Janice Jantzen

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

Janice has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1894 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2025, when Janice had 70 and Jantzen had 8.

Side by side

  Janice Jantzen
Total US births 407,605720
Most in one year 15,98132
Babies in 2025 708
Estimated living today 273,000700
Median age today 7128
Peak year 19511994
Best rank 21st girls2,392nd boys
Rank in 2025 2,514th8,910th
First recorded 18941976
Girls / boys 406,448 / 1,15714 / 706

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 Janices alive today are over 71; half the Jantzens are over 28. That is 43 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: Janice and Jantzen.