How rare is the name Janessa?

11,381 people in the United States have the first name Janessa, about 1 in 26,538. It ranks #2,275 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

JANESSA

#2,275

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
11,381
About
1 in 26,538
This common or more
79.2%
Who bears it

Of the 11,381 people named Janessa, 37.9% reported their origin as Hispanic or Latino, 36.7% as White and 11.4% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Janessa peaked in 2009, when 556 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19542025
Peak year
2009
Births that year
556
In 2025*
117 ▼79%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 14,722 babies have been given the name since 1954. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Janessa by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2000s, when it ranked #1,128. The largest share of babies named Janessa, 48%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1950s#9,48731
1960s#7,12484
1970s#3,611362
1980s#1,5781,724
1990s#1,2973,077
2000s#1,1284,712
2010s#1,4323,691
2020s#2,4551,041
Baby boom 1946–640.5%
Generation X 1965–803.5%
Millennials 1981–9625.4%
Generation Z 1997–1248%
2013 and later22.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Janessa is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Janessa has been most common in Utah (3.8×), New Mexico (3.5×), and Colorado (2.7×), and least common in Virginia (0.2×).

11,826 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Janessa

#2,273 Trace · 11,398#2,274 Shayne · 11,386#2,276 Dayton · 11,380#2,277 Yelena · 11,377

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Janessa, most common first.

#8,535 Jamesha · 1,697#8,776 Janes · 1,633#12,788 Janese · 962#13,866 Janasia · 861#15,849 Janisha · 720#19,735 Jamesia · 532#21,351 Janissa · 476#22,581 Janesha · 440

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