girl's name
Janet
JAN-it
- Origin Scottish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 562,042
Northern Ireland
#383
1999 births
Janet is a girl's name, a Scottish diminutive of Jane meaning God is gracious. It has fallen sharply — from 18,507 births at its 1954 peak to 2797th in the United States — and charts in four of our seven markets.
- Janet is a name of Scottish origin.
- Peaked in 1954, when 18,507 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 54,351 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Janet over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 461 |
| 1890s | 898 |
| 1900s | 1,541 |
| 1910s | 10,724 |
| 1920s | 24,020 |
| 1930s | 76,318 |
| 1940s | 131,093 |
| 1950s | 167,829 |
| 1960s | 89,549 |
| 1970s | 24,552 |
| 1980s | 13,671 |
| 1990s | 9,707 |
| 2000s | 5,501 |
| 2010s | 1,906 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 521 |
What Janet means
Janet means God is gracious, carried through Jane from the Hebrew Yochanan. The Hebrew joins a form of the divine name to a verb meaning to show favor.
Where Janet comes from
Janet is Jane with a diminutive ending, and Jane is the English feminine of John, from the Hebrew Yochanan — God is gracious. The -et ending is French in origin but Janet took root particularly in Scotland, where it was among the most common women's names for centuries and produced the pet forms Jessie and Jenny. In the Scottish ballad Tam Lin it is Janet who rescues her lover from the Queen of Elfland by holding on to him through a series of terrifying transformations, which makes her one of the more active heroines in the ballad tradition.
Janet in use
Janet peaked in the United States in 1954, when 18,507 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 2797th in the United States on 61 births, 5553rd in England and Wales and 6543rd in France, across 562,042 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. It does not currently chart in Scotland, where it was for centuries one of the most common women's names.
How popular is Janet?
In 2025, Janet was given to 61 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Janet is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Janet
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Janet also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Janet over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Janet
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Janet in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Slovene
- Jane
Sibling names for Janet
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Janet — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Janet
What does the name Janet mean?
God is gracious, carried through Jane from the Hebrew Yochanan.
Is Janet a Scottish name?
The form took root particularly in Scotland, where it was among the most common women's names for centuries.
Is Janet short for Jane?
It is a diminutive of Jane rather than a shortening, formed with the French -et ending.
How popular is Janet?
2797th in the United States, down from a 1954 peak of 18,507 births.
Is Janet a girl's or a boy's name?
Janet is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Janet?
Janet has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Janet?
Janet is usually shortened to Jan and Nettie.
Is Janet a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Janet currently ranks #2,797 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.