Humanverse

Janie vs Janmichael

American parents have registered 75,874 Janies since 1880, against 284 Janmichaels. Janie is still ahead, with 168 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Janie against Janmichael, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Janie Janmichael

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 1985, when Janie had 299 and Janmichael had 29.

Side by side

  Janie Janmichael
Total US births 75,874284
Most in one year 1,85329
Babies in 2025 168under 5
Estimated living today 42,000270
Median age today 6640
Peak year 19471985
Best rank 161st girls1,975th boys
Rank in 2025 1,326thunranked
First recorded 18801975
Girls / boys 75,598 / 2760 / 284

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 Janmichaels are over 40. That is 26 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: Janie and Janmichael.