Humanverse

Janie vs Jannene

American parents have registered 75,874 Janies since 1880, against 19 Jannenes. Janie is still ahead, with 168 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Janie Jannene

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 1975, when Janie had 357 and Jannene had 5.

Side by side

  Janie Jannene
Total US births 75,87419
Most in one year 1,8539
Babies in 2025 168under 5
Estimated living today 42,00015
Median age today 6664
Peak year 19471949
Best rank 161st girls3,612th girls
Rank in 2025 1,326thunranked
First recorded 18801949
Girls / boys 75,598 / 27619 / 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 Janies alive today are over 66; half the Jannenes are over 64. That is 2 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: Janie and Jannene.