Jeanette
Jeanette was the 2391st most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 75 babies. Its best year was 1939, when it ranked 82nd with 2,893 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 359 places. More babies were named Jeanette in the 1930s than in any other decade.
Meaning little Jean (Jane) · French, Scottish, Hebrew
Say it juh-NET /dʒəˈnɛt/
- Rank in 2025
- #2,391 girls, up 173 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 75girls
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a girl’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 19392,893 babies
- Total since 1880
- 163,977babies recorded
What does the name Jeanette mean?
Jeanette is Jean with the diminutive -ette, or a spelling of French Jeannette (Jeanne + -ette), as Wiktionary notes; it was originally chiefly Scottish. Jeanne and Jean are feminine forms of John, from Hebrew Yoḥanan 'YHWH is gracious'. Singer and actress Jeanette MacDonald made it popular in the US in the 1930s.
יוֹחָנָן (Yoḥanan) (Biblical Hebrew, “YHWH is gracious”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Related names: Jeannette, Janet, Jean, Jeanne.
See also: Hebrew names, names that mean God, names that mean grace.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Jeanette', 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 Jeanette
The usual nicknames for Jeanette are Jean and Nettie. Some parents skip the long form: for every 100 girls named Jeanette in the last five years, 115 were named Jean, against 41 twenty years earlier.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Girls, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jean | Traditional | #2,130 | 386 |
| Nettie · also for Annette, Antoinette, Henrietta | Traditional | #5,663 | 96 |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are girls given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Jeanettes go by each one.
Jeanette popularity since 1880
A few boys are given the name too: 537 since 1918.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies (girls) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #2,391 | 75 |
| 2020 | #2,564 | 67 |
| 2010 | #1,745 | 120 |
| 2000 | #785 | 292 |
| 1990 | #281 | 989 |
| 1980 | #250 | 1,026 |
| 1970 | #190 | 1,724 |
| 1960 | #159 | 2,647 |
| 1950 | #131 | 2,413 |
| 1940 | #90 | 2,727 |
| 1930 | #106 | 2,434 |
| 1920 | #126 | 2,043 |
| 1910 | #179 | 382 |
| 1900 | #206 | 233 |
| 1890 | #214 | 129 |
| 1880 | #207 | 55 |
How popular is Jeanette, counting every spelling?
Jeanette is the most common spelling of a name family that ranked #1,505 for girls in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #2,391 for Jeanette on its own. Together these spellings went to 124 girls in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeanette | 75 | #2,391 | 336 |
| Janette | 25 | #5,150 | 166 |
| Jeannette | 24 | #5,309 | 101 |
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 Jeanette?
75 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Jeanette (0.02 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Jeanette 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 112 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Jeanette.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Jeanette?
About 88,700 people born in the US named Jeanette are alive today, with a median age of 64; half are between 50 and 75. That makes Jeanette 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.
Jeanette by state
How common Jeanette was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. In 44 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 Jeanette: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Jeanette, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Jeanette · Sibling names for Jeanette
Questions about the name Jeanette
What does Jeanette mean?
Jeanette means “little Jean (Jane)” (French, Scottish, Hebrew origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Jeanette?
Jeanette was the 2391st most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 75 babies. Its best year was 1939, when it ranked 82nd with 2,893 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 359 places. More babies were named Jeanette in the 1930s than in any other decade.
Is Jeanette a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a girl’s name given the name Jeanette in the US.
Where is Jeanette most popular?
In 2021–2025, Jeanette was most common in California (0.06 per 1,000 girls), followed by Texas and Arizona.