Humanverse

Janeene vs Janie

American parents have registered 75,874 Janies since 1880, against 208 Janeenes. Janie is still ahead, with 168 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Janeene Janie

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 1974, when Janeene had 9 and Janie had 362.

Side by side

  Janeene Janie
Total US births 20875,874
Most in one year 111,853
Babies in 2025 under 5168
Estimated living today 18042,000
Median age today 5766
Peak year 19381947
Best rank 2,579th girls161st girls
Rank in 2025 unranked1,326th
First recorded 19381880
Girls / boys 208 / 075,598 / 276

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 Janeenes are over 57. That is 9 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: Janeene and Janie.