Jana
A feminine name of Slavic origin meaning "gracious" or "God's gift".
Name Census estimates that about 39,321 living Americans carry the first name Jana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jana today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jana births was 1961 (1,457 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jana. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jana with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
39K
~ 1 in 8,717 Americans
Peak year
1961
1,457 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1986 SSA rank
#1,335
Tracked since 1921
Census
Jana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 43,055 people with the first name Jana, which placed it at #999 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
#999
National first-name rank
People counted
43K
43,055 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jana is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Jana 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 Jana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.3% · 37,167
- Black or African American4.0% · 1,741
- Two or more races3.4% · 1,462
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 1,406
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 915
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 364
Gender
Gender distribution for Jana
Out of the 46,043 babies given the name Jana since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jana as a male name
- Ranked #5,585 in 1986
- 7 male births in 1986
- Peak: 1963 (9 births)
Jana as a female name
- Ranked #1,335 in 2024
- 171 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1961 (1,457 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jana appears almost entirely female. Of the 43,056 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jana from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 11,622 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jana 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 Jana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jana, while Vermont, Rhode Island, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 867 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jana
Jana is a feminine given name of Slavic origin, derived from the Hebrew name Johanna, which itself is a feminine form of the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name Jana is most commonly associated with Central and Eastern European countries, particularly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and parts of Germany.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jana can be traced back to the Middle Ages, where it was used among Slavic populations in Central and Eastern Europe. In the 9th century, a Bohemian noblewoman named Jana of Bohemia was recorded as one of the earliest known bearers of the name.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Jana. One of the most famous was Jana of Arc, also known as Joan of Arc (1412-1431), the French Catholic heroine who played a pivotal role in the Hundred Years' War. Another historical figure was Jana of Castile (1479-1555), the Queen of Spain and daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.
In the realm of literature, Jana Eyrová (1819-1849) was a Czech poet and writer who is considered one of the pioneering figures in the Czech national revival movement. Additionally, Jana Novák (1853-1912) was a Czech composer and pianist known for her contributions to the development of Czech classical music.
Turning to more recent times, Jana Novotná (1968-2017) was a renowned Czech professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 who won multiple Grand Slam singles and doubles titles throughout her career.
While the name Jana has maintained its popularity in Central and Eastern European countries, it has also gained recognition globally, with many notable individuals bearing the name in various fields, including arts, sciences, and sports.
People
Jana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jana as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 39,321 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jana 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 8,717 US residents.
Is Jana a common name?
We classify Jana as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 46,043 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jana most popular?
The single biggest year for Jana was 1961, when 1,457 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jana is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 43,055 people with the name Jana, or 14.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #999 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 Jana 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 Jana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jana appears almost entirely female. Of the 43,056 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Jana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jana is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Jana most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.3% (37,167 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 Jana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jana a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Jana 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 Jana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jana 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 Jana 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 share the name Jana?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.