Jansen
Masculine · “son of Jan”
Jansen is given to both — 2,124 boys and 214 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Jansen is a Dutch patronymic and it says exactly what it means: son of Jan. Jan is Dutch for John, which makes this one of the most literal names in the book.
How old is the name Jansen?
Jansen first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Jansen alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 2,100 people named Jansen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jansen most popular?
Jansen peaked in 1994, reaching #1231 nationally. Today it ranks #3379, 2,148 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Where it comes from
From Johannes to Jansen
The story of Jansen
Dutch and Flemish surnames were patronymic before they were fixed, and Jansen, Janssen and Janszoon are among the most common family names in the Netherlands and Belgium — the Dutch equivalent of Johnson. Dutch settlement in New York and later emigration to the Midwest carried the name to America. Its use as a given name is recent and belongs with Jensen, Hansen and Larsen, all of which have moved into front position in the same period.
Meaning
son of Jan, that is, of John
From Hebrew Yohanan, God is gracious, through Latin Johannes; Dutch shortened it to Jan and added -sen or -zoon to name the son.
How the name formed
- Johannes
- Jan
- Jansen
Related forms: Janssen · Jensen · Johnson
Pronouncing Jansen
YAN-sen
Two syllables, first stressed, with a y at the front in Dutch. Americans usually say JAN-sen.
Nicknames for Jansen
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
- 1958
- Most boys named
- 199488 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1231reached in 1994
- Change vs 2024
- −24.4%34 in 2025, from 45
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.
Jansen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Janssen in Dutch — spelling variant
- Jensen in Danish — related form
- Johnson in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Kentucky, Louisiana, Pennsylvania.
Jansens among us
people named Jansen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 50,238 born in 2025 was named Jansen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Renee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jansen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Renee climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Renee's path sketches the road Jansen is walking now.
Jansen sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Jansen is headed
Jansen should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Jansen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jansen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning inherited from one of the most-used names in human history.
- Jan sits inside it as a complete European name.
- Plain letters and an obvious American pronunciation.
- The initial J is read entirely differently in Dutch and English.
- Jensen, Janssen and Jansen are all used and get confused.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Jansen
Masculine · #3379 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jansens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Jansen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jansen in 2025?
- Jansen ranks #3379 among US boy names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jansen?
- About 1 in every 50,238 US boys born in 2025 was named Jansen — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jansen with classmates?
- Jansen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jansen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Art#3379 · Sampson#3379 · Kiernan#3379 · Benyamin#3379 · Quamir#3379 · Madhav#3379 · Tuff#3379 · Hubert#3379
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jansen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jansen and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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