Janice
Masculine
Janice is given to girls far more often — 406,448 girls against 1,157 boys since 1880. See Janice as a girl name
Janice was invented for a novel and the novel produced a hairstyle, a cocktail and a cigar. A historical romance published at the very end of the nineteenth century sold in enormous numbers, was turned into a play and then a film, and left behind a set of merchandised objects and one name that outlasted all of them.
How old is the name Janice?
Janice first appears in US birth records in 1926 — 99 years ago. The typical Janice alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 700 people named Janice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Janice most popular?
Janice peaked in 1940, reaching #929 nationally. See the whole 1940 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Jane to Janice
The story of Janice
The book was a bestseller of the kind that no longer exists, selling somewhere around two hundred thousand copies in its first year and generating an entire economy of tie-ins: a way of arranging the hair was named after the heroine, so were a drink and a brand of cigar, and there was a stage adaptation and a silent film. All of that is completely forgotten. The name is not. It went into the American stock immediately, peaked half a century later, and is carried by hundreds of thousands of women, almost none of whom have heard of the novel. That is the usual fate of a name with a known author: the source vanishes and the invention stays.
Meaningnot established
Not established
There is no meaning, because the name was made. It is usually explained as Jane with an ending, and the ending corresponds to nothing in particular; coined names do not acquire meanings by being used, however long they stay in circulation.
How the name formed
- Jane
- Janice
Pronouncing Janice
JAN-iss
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The final s is unvoiced, which is what the c is there to guarantee; a spelling with an s would invite a z and produce a different sound.
Nicknames for Janice
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1926
- Most boys named
- 194047 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #929reached in 1940
- Change vs 1987
- −16.7%5 in 1988, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Janices among us
people named Janice are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Janice sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The spoken name is completely established and never needs to be repeated.
- Jan is a short, plain everyday form available from the first day.
- It has a documented author and a documented year, which very few names can offer.
- The record carries it for boys in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- It is very strongly dated to the middle of the last century in American ears.
- There is no meaning to give a child, because the name was made rather than inherited.
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Janice
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Janices are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Janice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Janice in 2025?
- Janice is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Janice with classmates?
- Janice will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
James#6 · John#23 · Joseph#29 · Joshua#66 · Jason#165 · Jacob#43 · Jeffrey#552 · Jonathan#89
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Janice? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Janice and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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