How common is the name Janet?

429,159 people in the United States have the first name Janet, about 1 in 704. It ranks #108 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

JANET

#108

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
429,159
About
1 in 704
This common or more
31.4%
Who bears it

Of the 429,159 people named Janet, 82.8% reported their origin as White, 7.4% as Hispanic or Latino and 5.5% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Janet peaked in 1954, when 18,507 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1954
Births that year
18,507
In 2025*
61 ▼100%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 558,291 babies have been given the name since 1880. 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.

Janet by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1940s, when it ranked #41. The largest share of babies named Janet, 51.3%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1880s#522461
1890s#465898
1900s#4071,541
1910s#25910,724
1920s#19724,020
1930s#5076,318
1940s#41131,093
1950s#47167,829
1960s#8989,549
1970s#24424,552
1980s#38813,671
1990s#5889,707
2000s#1,0045,501
2010s#2,2811,906
2020s#3,904521
Before 19010.3%
Greatest Generation 1901–275.4%
Silent Generation 1928–4527.8%
Baby boom 1946–6451.3%
Generation X 1965–809.9%
Millennials 1981–963.5%
Generation Z 1997–121.5%
2013 and later0.3%

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 Janet is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Janet has been most common in Iowa (1.6×), West Virginia (1.5×), and Nebraska (1.5×), and least common in Nevada (0.38×).

551,468 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 Janet

#106 Zachary · 435,262#107 Andrea · 429,407#109 Christina · 423,584#110 Diane · 422,752

Spelled almost the same

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

#2,681 Janeth · 8,755#5,267 Janett · 3,297#5,516 Jannet · 3,095#20,240 Janete · 512#33,205 Janat · 250#37,262 Janeta · 210#39,783 Janit · 189

Also a last name

As a last name, Janet ranks #38,781 of 156,621, with 614 people. See Janet as a last name

Compare