Jannine
A feminine French variant of Jeanne, meaning "God is gracious."
Name Census estimates that about 568 living Americans carry the first name Jannine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jannine today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jannine births was 1964 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jannine. 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
568
~ 1 in 603,441 Americans
Peak year
1964
30 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2005 SSA rank
#15,287
Tracked since 1946
Census
Jannine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 723 people with the first name Jannine, which placed it at #15,793 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
#15,793
National first-name rank
People counted
723
723 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jannine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jannine is White at 63.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.2%) and Black (9.3%). 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 Jannine 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 Jannine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.8% · 461
- Hispanic or Latino17.2% · 124
- Black or African American9.3% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 46
- Two or more races2.9% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Jannine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jannine from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 219 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
Jannine 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 Jannine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jannines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Jannine, while New Jersey, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jannine
The name Jannine is a French feminine form of the male name Jannin, which is a variant of the name Janin. The name Janin is a diminutive of the French name Jean, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious."
The earliest known use of the name Jannine dates back to the late 19th century in France. However, the name did not become popular until the mid-20th century. It gained popularity as a feminine form of the name Jean, which was a common name in France.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jannine can be found in the 1886 French novel "La Terre" by Émile Zola, where a character is named Jannine. This suggests that the name was in use, although not widespread, in France during the late 19th century.
A notable historical figure named Jannine was Jannine Charrat (1924-2018), a French writer and philosopher. She was known for her works on existentialism and feminist philosophy.
Another historical figure with the name Jannine was Jannine Weissmuller (1911-2003), an American swimmer and actress. She was the wife of the famous actor Johnny Weissmuller, who played Tarzan in several films.
Jannine Deckers (1939-1985), better known as Sœur Sourire (Sister Smile), was a Belgian nun and singer who gained fame in the 1960s with her hit song "Dominique." She left the convent and later struggled with personal issues, ultimately taking her own life.
Jannine Meerapfel (born 1943) is a German film director and screenwriter known for her critically acclaimed films, such as "The Friends of Büchner" (1982) and "The Amati Girls" (2001).
Jannine Detz (born 1942) is a Dutch actress and singer who has appeared in numerous films, television shows, and stage productions throughout her career.
Overall, the name Jannine has its roots in the French language and culture, with its earliest recorded use dating back to the late 19th century. While not a widely popular name, it has been borne by notable figures in various fields throughout history.
People
Jannine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jannine 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
Jannine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jannine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 568 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jannine 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 603,441 US residents.
Is Jannine a common name?
We classify Jannine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 677 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jannine most popular?
The single biggest year for Jannine was 1964, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jannine is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jannine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 723 people with the name Jannine, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,793 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 Jannine 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 Jannine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jannine appears almost entirely female. Of the 725 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Jannine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jannine is White at 63.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.2%) and Black (9.3%). 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 Jannine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jannine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.8% (461 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 Jannine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jannine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jannine 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 Jannine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jannine 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 Jannine 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 common is the name Jannine?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Jannine on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.