Janet

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Jeanette in DK Denmark, NO Norway, SE Sweden and 2 more, ג'נט in FR France, IL Israel, Jennet in TM Turkmenistan, CR Costa Rica and Дженнет in RU Russia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 15 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Janet is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name857K records spelled Janet41 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Peru, Mexico

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Ja'Net, Jänët, Janét, Jánet, Jânët

• Swahili given name285K records spelled Janet6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Kenya, Ghana, United States, Nigeria

  Languages: Swahili, Akan, Southern Sotho

  Also written Ja'Net, Jañet, Jànet

• a separate given name263K records spelled Janet3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Ja-Net, Janét

• Polish given name35K records spelled Janet22 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Джанет, Джанэт, Dzhanet, Janèt, Djanet

• Hungarian given name13K records spelled Janet6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United States, Finland, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Jãnët, Jänêt, Jäñêt

78 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Janet is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swahili, English given name; also used as a shortening of Jannat

  as a name·African Muslim Names

• 2 Originally a diminutive of Jane, already in common use in the Middle English period. It remained in use in Scotland and in some parts of England well into the 17th century and was revived at the end of the r9th century to much more widespread use, while still retaining its popularity in Scotland. Short form: pJan.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, from a pet form (not necessarily female) of the personal name Jan (see Jayne).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, Acronym of Joint Academic Network.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Janet är en engelsk smekform till → Jane. En känd namnbärare är den amerikanska artisten Janet Jackson (f. 1966).

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Janet Gaynorb. 1906USAmerican actress (1906–1984)
• Janet Jaganb. 1920USpresident of Guyana, prime minister of Guyana, nurse (1920-2009)
• Kim Hunterb. 1922USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress (1922-2002)
• Janet Leighb. 1927USAmerican actress (1927–2004)
• Janet Renob. 1938USformer Attorney General of the United States (1938-2016)
• Janet Yellenb. 1946US78th United States Secretary of the Treasury
• Janet Napolitanob. 1957USAmerican politician, lawyer, and academic administrator (born 1957)
• Janet McTeerb. 1961GBBritish actress
• Janet Jacksonb. 1966USAmerican singer, songwriter, dancer and actress (born 1966)
• Janet Montgomeryb. 1985GBBritish actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,289 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Janet?

We estimate roughly 473 thousand people bear Janet (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Janet have the most bearers?

Janet is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled janet.

How common is Janet compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Janet is the 51st most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Janet a male or female name?

Janet is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Janet mean?

Recorded meaning: Diminutive of Jane/Jeanne, Hebrew 'God is gracious'.