Janiya
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "paradise" or "heaven".
Name Census estimates that about 10,873 living Americans carry the first name Janiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Janiya today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Janiya births was 2008 (914 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Janiya. 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 Janiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Janiya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 31,523 Americans
Peak year
2008
914 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2004 SSA rank
#1,774
Tracked since 1990
Census
Janiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,929 people with the first name Janiya, which placed it at #2,886 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
#2,886
National first-name rank
People counted
7.9K
7,929 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Janiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janiya is Black at 87.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.7%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Janiya 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 Janiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.9% · 6,966
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 450
- Two or more races4.7% · 376
- White1.1% · 89
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Janiya
Out of the 11,007 babies given the name Janiya 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.
Janiya as a male name
- Ranked #10,530 in 2004
- 6 male births in 2004
- Peak: 2004 (6 births)
Janiya as a female name
- Ranked #1,774 in 2024
- 113 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (914 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janiya appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,935 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Janiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Janiya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6,668 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Janiya 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 Janiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Janiyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Janiya, while Delaware, Colorado, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 305 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Janiya
The name Janiya is a relatively modern variation of the Hebrew name Jania, which is derived from the name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious." The name Jania itself first emerged in the late 19th century and was initially popular among Jewish families.
While there are no direct historical references to the name Janiya in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its roots can be traced back to the Hebrew name Yohanan, which appears several times in the Bible, most notably as the name of John the Baptist. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jania date back to the late 19th century in European and American records.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Jania was Jania Sowińska, a Polish actress born in 1887. Another early example is Jania Beutelrock, a German artist born in 1900. In the early 20th century, the name gained some popularity in the United States, with individuals like Jania Kachurin, a Russian-American ballet dancer born in 1912, and Jania Klonk, an American actress born in 1928.
As the name evolved and variations like Janiya emerged, it became more widely used across different cultures and ethnicities. One notable figure with the name Janiya is Janiya Garifullina, a Russian operatic soprano born in 1989. Another is Janiya Shaimardanova, a Kazakh wrestler and Olympic medalist born in 1990.
Throughout history, several other individuals have borne the name Janiya, including Janiya Qayratovna Bilyalova, a Kazakh singer and actress born in 1942, and Janiya Assaf, a Lebanese singer and actress born in 1957. While not an exhaustive list, these examples showcase the name's diverse cultural representation and its evolution over time.
People
Janiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Janiya 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
Janiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Janiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,873 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Janiya 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 31,523 US residents.
Is Janiya a common name?
We classify Janiya as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,007 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Janiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Janiya was 2008, when 914 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Janiya is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Janiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,929 people with the name Janiya, or 2.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,886 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 Janiya 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 Janiya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Janiya appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,935 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Janiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Janiya is Black at 87.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.7%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Janiya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Janiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.9% (6,966 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 Janiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Janiya a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Janiya 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 Janiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Janiya 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 Janiya 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 named Janiya?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.