Humanverse

Jane vs Janeene

American parents have registered 381,009 Janes since 1880, against 208 Janeenes. Jane is still ahead, with 1,380 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jane against Janeene, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jane Janeene

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

Jane 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 1974, when Jane had 835 and Janeene had 9.

Side by side

  Jane Janeene
Total US births 381,009208
Most in one year 9,96111
Babies in 2025 1,380under 5
Estimated living today 207,000180
Median age today 6957
Peak year 19471938
Best rank 36th girls2,579th girls
Rank in 2025 221stunranked
First recorded 18801938
Girls / boys 379,876 / 1,133208 / 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 Janes alive today are over 69; half the Janeenes are over 57. That is 12 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: Jane and Janeene.