# Janus (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/janus/  
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 | boys and girls |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | “the roman god janus” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈd͡ʒeɪnəs/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 168 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 41 / 127 (76% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

From Latin Iānus (“the Roman god Janus”).

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1945 | 6 | 4,249 |
| 1946 | 8 | 3,808 |
| 1947 | 9 | 3,850 |
| 1948 | 6 | 4,905 |
| 1949 | 7 | 4,418 |
| 1950 | 5 | 5,622 |
| 1951 | 10 | 3,590 |
| 1952 | 9 | 3,948 |
| 1953 | 9 | 4,064 |
| 1956 | 16 | 2,976 |
| 1958 | 7 | 5,101 |
| 1960 | 5 | 6,746 |
| 1963 | 5 | 7,018 |
| 1969 | 5 | 7,913 |
| 1971 | 7 | 6,882 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1922 | 5 | 4,622 |
| 1972 | 5 | 5,308 |
| 1997 | 6 | 8,616 |
| 2002 | 5 | 11,432 |
| 2009 | 5 | 13,279 |
| 2010 | 5 | 13,106 |
| 2017 | 5 | 13,108 |
| 2019 | 5 | 12,967 |

## People named Janus

- Janus Friis, Danish entrepreneur
- Janus Theeuwes, Dutch archer (1886-1975)
- Janus Djurhuus, Faroese poet
- Janus Metz Pedersen, Danish filmmaker
- Janus Henricus Donker Curtius, Dutch diplomat (1813–1879)
- Janus Kamban, Faroese sculptor (1913-2009)

## 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.