Janus
Janus was last recorded in 2019, when 5 babies were given it; 168 Americans have been recorded with it between 1922 and 2019 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Janus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Janus mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Janus is “a male given name from Latin.” Its etymology gives the sense “the Roman god Janus” (Iānus).
From Latin Iānus (“the Roman god Janus”).
/ˈd͡ʒeɪnəs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Janus?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #6,880, in 1971; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
16 babies in 1956, the peak
Janus peaked in 1956, when 16 girls were given it, #2,975 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | under 5 | 5 | #12,961 | |
| 2017 | under 5 | 5 | #13,102 | |
| 2010 | under 5 | 5 | #13,099 | |
| 2009 | under 5 | 5 | #13,273 | |
| 2002 | under 5 | 5 | #11,425 | |
| 1997 | under 5 | 6 | #8,610 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 5 | #5,306 | |
| 1971 | 7 | #6,880 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 5 | #7,911 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 5 | #7,017 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (25)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 5 | #6,745 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 7 | #5,100 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 16 | #2,975 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 9 | #4,063 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 9 | #3,947 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 10 | #3,589 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 5 | #5,620 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 7 | #4,417 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 6 | #4,903 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 9 | #3,848 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 8 | #3,807 | under 5 | |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,247 | under 5 | |
| 1943 | 8 | #3,628 | under 5 | |
| 1936 | 5 | #4,501 | under 5 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 5 | #4,620 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Janus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 168 Americans recorded as Janus, 76% are girls and 24% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Janus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Janus, and how old are they?
An estimated 126 Americans named Janus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (75% of everyone recorded); the median is 70 years old and half are between 54 and 76. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 511 people named Janus (273 women and girls, 238 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 137 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 49,593 babies since 1880, Janus is the third most given (<1% 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.
More about Janus and names like it
- Compare Janus and JanisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sJanus peaked in 1956.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Janus: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1956The year the most babies were named Janus.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Janus alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with JMost given first.