January
January was given to 9 girls in 2025, #10,444 among girls’ names; 2,170 Americans have been recorded with it since 1951 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,080 Americans named January and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 46 years old and half are between 34 and 49.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of January by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does January mean?
Wiktionary, English section
January is “a female given name transferred from the month name [in turn from English].” Its etymology gives the senses “(month) of Janus” (Iānuārius) and “Janus” (Iānus) and “to go” (*yeh₂-).
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.
/ˈd͡ʒæn.juˌɛɹi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is January?
#10,444 among girls’ names, 2025
January fell from #5,911 in 2015 to #10,444 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 12.3 to 5.6 per million.
257 babies in 1978, the peak
January peaked in 1978, when 257 girls were given it, #638 among girls’ names. The 9 births of 2025 are 4% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | #10,444 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 11 | #9,195 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 17 | #6,773 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 20 | #6,073 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 15 | #7,411 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 19 | #6,173 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 14 | #7,904 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,360 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 24 | #5,432 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 21 | #6,058 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 22 | #5,911 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 27 | #5,084 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 36 | #4,109 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 28 | #5,021 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 25 | #5,438 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 23 | #5,863 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 15 | #8,211 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,372 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 8 | #13,171 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 10 | #10,935 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 9 | #11,276 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 11 | #9,510 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 16 | #7,015 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 14 | #7,586 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 8 | #11,434 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 13 | #7,753 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 15 | #6,630 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 13 | #7,274 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,315 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 9 | #9,104 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,332 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 10 | #8,383 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 9 | #9,025 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 20 | #4,922 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 15 | #6,057 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 8 | #9,601 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 17 | #5,133 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 23 | #3,937 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 25 | #3,555 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 31 | #2,999 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 37 | #2,615 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 42 | #2,319 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 52 | #1,973 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 59 | #1,836 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 109 | #1,203 | 0.07 |
| 1980 | 122 | #1,119 | 0.07 |
| 1979 | 216 | #749 | 0.13 |
| 1978 | 257 | #638 | 0.17 |
| 1977 | 165 | #873 | 0.11 |
| 1976 | 204 | #719 | 0.14 |
| 1975 | 89 | #1,258 | 0.06 |
| 1974 | 20 | #3,358 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 18 | #3,530 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 14 | #4,169 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 7 | #6,879 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 10 | #5,193 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,195 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 12 | #4,085 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 10 | #4,422 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 7 | #5,473 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 11 | #4,044 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 7 | #5,686 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 6 | #6,149 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,511 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 6 | #5,968 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 5 | #6,637 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,035 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,562 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is January a boy’s or a girl’s name?
January has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 68 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named January: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named January, and how old are they?
2,080 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 2,170 Americans ever recorded as January. The median January alive today is 46 years old; half are between 34 and 49.
The 2020 Census counted 2,024 people named January (1,939 women and girls, 85 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,019 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 36 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,110 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 460 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 224 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 252 |
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 January born?
The states with the most babies named January are California, Texas and New York, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 161 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 89 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New York | 83 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 70 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 58 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Florida | 51 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 37 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Illinois | 36 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New Jersey | 27 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 25 | not ranked | 0.4× |
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 January 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,234 babies since 1880, January is the most given (97% of them).
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 January
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 January and names like it
- Compare January and JanaraBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sJanuary peaked in 1978.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named January since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for January: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1978The year the most babies were named January.
- The names of Generation XMost people named January alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with JMost given first.