Gianina
A feminine given name of Italian origin meaning "God's gracious gift".
Name Census estimates that about 693 living Americans carry the first name Gianina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gianina today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gianina births was 2022 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gianina. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
693
~ 1 in 494,595 Americans
Peak year
2022
31 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,332
Tracked since 1960
Census
Gianina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 835 people with the first name Gianina, which placed it at #14,182 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,182
National first-name rank
People counted
835
835 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
47.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gianina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gianina is Hispanic at 47.3%. The next largest groups are White (35.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Gianina described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Gianina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino47.3% · 395
- White35.9% · 300
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.4% · 62
- Black or African American5.0% · 42
- Two or more races4.0% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Gianina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gianina from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 167 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Gianina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gianina by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Gianina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gianinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Gianina, while Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gianina
The name Gianina is a feminine given name of Italian origin. It is derived from the Italian masculine name Giano, which is the Italian form of the Roman god Janus. Janus was the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, doorways, and endings. He was depicted as having two faces, one looking to the future and one to the past.
The name Gianina likely emerged during the Renaissance period in Italy. It is a diminutive form of the name Giana, which itself is a feminine form of Giano. The addition of the diminutive suffix "-ina" was a common practice in Italian names to create affectionate and endearing versions.
While the name Gianina does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its connection to the Roman god Janus is significant. Janus was an important figure in Roman mythology and was often invoked during ceremonies and rituals related to beginnings and transitions.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Gianina can be found in the 16th century. Gianina de' Bicci (1496-1547) was an Italian painter and engraver who worked in Florence during the Renaissance period. She was known for her religious paintings and her collaboration with the artist Jacopo Pontormo.
Another notable figure with the name Gianina was Gianina Russ (1912-1980), an Italian-born American painter and illustrator. She was known for her vibrant and colorful artworks, which often depicted scenes from everyday life.
In the realm of literature, Gianina Braschi (born 1953) is a Puerto Rican writer and poet. She is known for her experimental and avant-garde works, including the novel "Yo-Yo Boing!" (1998), which explores themes of identity, language, and cultural hybridity.
The name Gianina was also borne by Gianina Arangi-Lombardi (1891-1951), an Italian operatic soprano who had a successful career in the early 20th century. She performed at prestigious opera houses such as La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Finally, Gianina Rojavin (1948-2016) was a Peruvian writer and journalist. She was known for her works that explored themes of gender, identity, and social issues in Latin American society.
People
Gianina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gianina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gianina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gianina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 693 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gianina going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 494,595 US residents.
Is Gianina a common name?
We classify Gianina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 717 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gianina most popular?
The single biggest year for Gianina was 2022, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gianina is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gianina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 835 people with the name Gianina, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,182 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Gianina in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Gianina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gianina appears almost entirely female. Of the 831 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Gianina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gianina is Hispanic at 47.3%. The next largest groups are White (35.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Gianina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Gianina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.3% (395 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Gianina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gianina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gianina in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Gianina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gianina in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Gianina can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Gianina as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Gianina, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.