Janice
Janice was the 2522nd most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 70 babies. Its best year was 1951, when it ranked 21st with 15,958 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 1,284 places. More babies were named Janice in the 1950s than in any other decade.
Meaning variant of Jane · English, Hebrew
Say it JAN-iss /ˈdʒænɪs/
- Rank in 2025
- #2,522 girls, down 560 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 70girls
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a girl’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 195115,958 babies
- Total since 1880
- 407,605babies recorded
What does the name Janice mean?
Janice is a variant of Jane, formed under the influence of names such as Alice, Bernice and Eunice, as Wiktionary notes. Jane comes from Latin Johanna, the feminine of John, from Hebrew Yoḥanan 'YHWH is gracious'. Janice was popularized by Paul Leicester Ford's novel Janice Meredith (1899) and was common in the US in the 1940s and 1950s.
Jane (English, “from Johanna”)יוֹחָנָן (Yoḥanan) (Biblical Hebrew, “YHWH is gracious”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Related names: Jane, Janis, Janet, Jan.
See also: Hebrew names, names that mean God, names that mean grace.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Janice', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, ed. S. L. Uckelman, Edition 2023 no. 1, s.v. 'Joan', DMNES (Durham University)
Nicknames for Janice
The usual nicknames for Janice are Jan.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Girls, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan · also for Janet | Traditional | #15,898 | 10 |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are girls given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Janices go by each one.
Janice popularity since 1880
A few boys are given the name too: 1,157 since 1926.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies (girls) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #2,522 | 70 |
| 2020 | #1,962 | 97 |
| 2010 | #1,052 | 236 |
| 2000 | #744 | 310 |
| 1990 | #477 | 514 |
| 1980 | #257 | 1,004 |
| 1970 | #145 | 2,331 |
| 1960 | #41 | 9,620 |
| 1950 | #22 | 15,012 |
| 1940 | #22 | 9,318 |
| 1930 | #126 | 1,930 |
| 1920 | #254 | 670 |
| 1910 | #418 | 89 |
| 1900 | #572 | 37 |
| 1890 | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — |
How popular is Janice, counting every spelling?
Janice is the most common spelling of a name family that had 88 girls in 2025 across its spellings. Together these spellings went to 88 girls in 2025.
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Janice?
70 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Janice (0.02 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Janice born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 120 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Janice.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Janice?
About 266,000 people born in the US named Janice are alive today, with a median age of 72; half are between 65 and 78. That makes Janice a name most people associate with older generations.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Janice by state
How common Janice was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in New York (1.8×), California (1.6×). In 42 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Janice: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Janice, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Janice · Sibling names for Janice
Questions about the name Janice
What does Janice mean?
Janice means “variant of Jane” (English, Hebrew origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Janice?
Janice was the 2522nd most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 70 babies. Its best year was 1951, when it ranked 21st with 15,958 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 1,284 places. More babies were named Janice in the 1950s than in any other decade.
Is Janice a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a girl’s name given the name Janice in the US.
Where is Janice most popular?
In 2021–2025, Janice was most common in New York (0.09 per 1,000 girls), followed by California and Texas.