Janise
A feminine name of French origin meaning "Yahweh is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 1,734 living Americans carry the first name Janise. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janise today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janise births was 1953 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janise. 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 197,667 Americans
Peak year
1953
54 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,161
Tracked since 1933
Census
Janise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,882 people with the first name Janise, which placed it at #7,874 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
#7,874
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,882 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janise is White at 40.6%. The next largest groups are Black (37.9%) and Hispanic (14.0%). 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 Janise 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 Janise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.6% · 765
- Black or African American37.9% · 714
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 263
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 64
- Two or more races3.0% · 56
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 20
Popularity
Janise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janise from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 407 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Janise 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 Janise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janises live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Janise, while Missouri, Ohio, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Janise
The name Janise has its origins in the late Latin name Janisia, which was derived from the ancient Roman family name Ianicus or Ianucius. These names were likely connected to the Roman god Janus, the deity of beginnings, transitions, and duality. Janise was a relatively uncommon name in ancient times, but it did appear in some historical records from the late Roman era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Janise can be found in a document from the 6th century AD, which mentions a woman named Janise who was a scholar and poet in the city of Ravenna, Italy. Unfortunately, little else is known about this individual, but her inclusion in the historical record suggests that the name was in use, at least among certain circles, during this time period.
In the Middle Ages, the name Janise appears to have been more prevalent in certain parts of Europe, particularly in France and Italy. A notable figure from this era was Janise de Montfort, a 13th-century French noblewoman who played a role in the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France. Her exact birth and death dates are uncertain, but she was active in the early 13th century.
During the Renaissance, the name Janise was associated with a few notable individuals, including Janise Tintoretto, the daughter of the Italian Renaissance painter Tintoretto (1518-1594). Janise Tintoretto was herself a painter and assisted her father in his workshop, though her specific birth and death dates are unknown.
In the 17th century, there was a French writer and philosopher named Janise Aubert (1646-1723), who was known for her work on moral philosophy and her advocacy for women's education. Her writings and ideas were influential during the Enlightenment period.
Another notable figure was Janise Erskine (1693-1778), a Scottish aristocrat and landowner who played a role in the Jacobite risings of the 18th century, supporting the cause of the exiled House of Stuart against the Hanoverian monarchy.
While the name Janise has never been extremely common, it has maintained a presence throughout history, particularly in certain regions of Europe. These examples demonstrate its use across various time periods and among individuals from diverse backgrounds, including nobility, artists, writers, and scholars.
People
Janise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janise 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
Janise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,734 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janise 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 197,667 US residents.
Is Janise a common name?
We classify Janise as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,076 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janise most popular?
The single biggest year for Janise was 1953, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janise is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,882 people with the name Janise, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,874 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 Janise 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 Janise?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janise appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,886 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Janise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janise is White at 40.6%. The next largest groups are Black (37.9%) and Hispanic (14.0%). 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 Janise most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Janise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.6% (765 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 Janise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janise a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Janise 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 Janise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janise 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 Janise 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 are called Janise?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.