# January (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/january/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Norman |
| Meaning | “(month) of janus”, “janus”, “to go” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈd͡ʒæn.juˌɛɹi/, 4 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Jan |
| US babies named this | 2,170 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 2,170 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

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.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 25 | 5,440 |
| 2012 | 28 | 5,023 |
| 2013 | 36 | 4,111 |
| 2014 | 27 | 5,086 |
| 2015 | 22 | 5,913 |
| 2016 | 21 | 6,060 |
| 2017 | 24 | 5,434 |
| 2018 | 19 | 6,364 |
| 2019 | 14 | 7,908 |
| 2020 | 19 | 6,177 |
| 2021 | 15 | 7,416 |
| 2022 | 20 | 6,078 |
| 2023 | 17 | 6,778 |
| 2024 | 11 | 9,200 |
| 2025 | 9 | 10,448 |

## People named January

- January Jones, American actress (born 1978)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.