Janel
Janel was given to 8 girls in 2025, #11,326 among girls’ names; 12,055 Americans have been recorded with it since 1933 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 11,200 Americans named Janel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 36 and 55.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Janel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Janel?
#11,326 among girls’ names, 2025
Janel fell from #4,531 in 2015 to #11,326 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 17.4 to 5.0 per million.
429 babies in 1971, the peak
Janel peaked in 1971, when 429 babies were given it (424 girls, #470 among girls’ names). The 8 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #11,326 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 16 | #7,061 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 18 | #6,514 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 14 | #7,788 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 23 | #5,463 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 27 | #4,808 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 26 | #5,088 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 23 | #5,522 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 32 | #4,432 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 36 | #4,122 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (93)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 31 | #4,531 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 38 | #3,954 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 41 | #3,735 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 35 | #4,245 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 42 | #3,687 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 43 | #3,656 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 64 | #2,788 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 69 | #2,672 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 57 | #3,073 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 56 | #3,030 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 59 | #2,793 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 78 | #2,247 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 92 | #1,975 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 78 | #2,148 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 101 | #1,765 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 96 | #1,803 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 106 | #1,583 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 130 | #1,350 | 0.07 |
| 1997 | 114 | #1,449 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 160 | #1,134 | 0.09 |
| 1995 | 163 | #1,090 | 0.09 |
| 1994 | 189 | #978 | 0.11 |
| 1993 | 203 | #930 | 0.11 |
| 1992 | 223 | #885 | 0.12 |
| 1991 | 236 | #847 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 194 | #964 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 238 | #800 | 0.13 |
| 1988 | 255 | #735 | 0.14 |
| 1987 | 280 | #666 | 0.16 |
| 1986 | 231 | #754 | 0.13 |
| 1985 | 185 | #868 | 0.11 |
| 1984 | 207 | #779 | 0.12 |
| 1983 | 228 | #726 | 0.14 |
| 1982 | 283 | #636 | 0.17 |
| 1981 | 324 | #568 | 0.19 |
| 1980 | 397 | #507 | 0.24 |
| 1979 | 359 | #530 | 0.22 |
| 1978 | 413 | #475 | 0.27 |
| 1977 | 387 | #491 | 0.25 |
| 1976 | 346 | #514 | 0.24 |
| 1975 | 346 | #514 | 0.24 |
| 1974 | 310 | #546 | 0.21 |
| 1973 | 333 | #514 | 0.23 |
| 1972 | 357 | #495 | 0.23 |
| 1971 | 424 | #470 | 0.25 |
| 1970 | 386 | #508 | 0.22 |
| 1969 | 312 | #559 | 0.18 |
| 1968 | 252 | #608 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 184 | #725 | 0.11 |
| 1966 | 114 | #954 | 0.07 |
| 1965 | 105 | #1,019 | 0.06 |
| 1964 | 130 | #917 | 0.07 |
| 1963 | 106 | #1,044 | 0.05 |
| 1962 | 121 | #969 | 0.06 |
| 1961 | 142 | #908 | 0.07 |
| 1960 | 110 | #1,025 | 0.05 |
| 1959 | 107 | #1,024 | 0.05 |
| 1958 | 110 | #988 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 103 | #1,033 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 87 | #1,109 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 86 | #1,090 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 102 | #960 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 79 | #1,083 | 0.04 |
| 1952 | 83 | #1,031 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 83 | #1,023 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 73 | #1,078 | 0.04 |
| 1949 | 62 | #1,157 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 55 | #1,228 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 41 | #1,471 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 18 | #2,261 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 13 | #2,521 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 13 | #2,559 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 8 | #3,626 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 11 | #2,893 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 16 | #2,135 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 7 | #3,651 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,800 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 9 | #3,032 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #3,036 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,437 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 29 | #1,369 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 6 | #4,022 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 5 | #4,512 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Janel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Janel has been given almost only to girls: 32 boys in 93 years of records.
Girls and boys named Janel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Janel, and how old are they?
11,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 12,055 Americans ever recorded as Janel. The median Janel alive today is 47 years old; half are between 36 and 55.
The 2020 Census counted 11,109 people named Janel (10,957 women and girls, 152 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 11,322 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 56 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,360 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,710 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,510 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,210 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 331 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Janel born?
The states with the most babies named Janel are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 34% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,556 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New York | 730 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 668 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 536 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 528 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Minnesota | 477 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Texas | 474 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 436 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Wisconsin | 380 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Florida | 281 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Janel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Janel is most over-represented in North Dakota: since 1933 it was given 3.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Janel with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 29,969 babies since 1880, Janel is the second most given (40% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8 of their 26 babies (31%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Janel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Janel and names like it
- Compare Janel and JanellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sJanel peaked in 1971.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Janel since 1910.
- The top names of 1971The year the most babies were named Janel.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Janel alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with JMost given first.