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January

#10,444 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly (month) of Janus

January has been given to 2,170 babies in the U.S. since 1951. In 2025 it ranked #10,444 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1978, with 257 recorded.

Babies named January, 2025

1 in 368,000

January over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

January: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly (month) of Janus

English and month names

What January means

January may mean “(month) of Janus”, associated with Iānuārius.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Middle English Januarie, januari, re-latinised forms of Middle English Janevere, Ieneuer, from Anglo-Norman genever, from Latin Iānuārius (“(month) of Janus”), a compound of Iānus ("Janus") + -ārius (adjectival suffix), with the first element perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root *yeh₂- (“to go”). Doublet of Gennaro.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: January (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

January is used in English and Tagalog. Its origins include English and month names.

January comes through Middle English Januarie, Anglo-Norman genever and Latin Iānuārius.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Gennaro.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, January is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒæn.juˌɛɹi/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,170 girls were recorded with the name January between 1951 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 257 in 1978; its best national rank was #638 in 1978.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,173 in 2020 to #10,444 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,911 in 2015 to #10,444 in 2025.

How common is January?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 368,000
9 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 179,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#10,444
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
255,323 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where January sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 255,323 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another January. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Januarys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as January was born before 1979 — so the typical January is around 46 today.

Median birth year
1979
About 46 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
46.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
19.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,170
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 46.1% of all recorded uses (1,000).

Is January rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,249
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−4,271
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−4,533
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.41×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
3.5%
Peak was 1978 (257)
Years since peak
47
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#638
1978

Spellings of January

January is not the most common spelling — Janay is, with 72.9% against January's 27.1%.

  • Janay72.9%5,832
  • January27.1%2,170

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where January is used

Across 1910–2025, January was most concentrated in Arizona — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 158,420 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arizona1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3Florida1 in 100,000
  4. 4Georgia1 in 100,000
  5. 5Louisiana1 in 100,000
  6. 6Maryland1 in 100,000
  7. 7Michigan1 in 100,000
  8. 8New Jersey1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. January has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

January around the world

Where January ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • South Australia
    1976–1982
    #670
    in 1982

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named January

People whose public names include January, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

January in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of January. Linked forms have their own page here.

GennaroJanuariaJanuarioJanuárioJanuariusJanuariusz

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

January by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#10,444
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,271
Best rank ever
#638
1978
Peak year
1978
257 that year
First recorded
1951
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,170
Count in 2025
9

Names similar to January

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

JanellaJanellyJanieceJanasiaJanylahJanelyJaniseJanylaJannahJanitaJaninaJanayahJannatJanettJanayaJannelleJanyahJanissaJanyiahJanneyJaniahJanethJaneaJanya

Names with a curve like January

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as January, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

CicelyTamicaQianaCrissyLatrinaMistieTomikaTakishaKeeshaCarisaTennilleNichol

Sibling names for January

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around January

Top names of 1978, January's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1978Girls' names starting with JWinter Names