Boy · Hebrew, through Latvian
Jānis
Say it: YAH-nis
Meaning
The Latvian form of John, from Hebrew Yohanan 'God is gracious'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Traditionally the most common Latvian man's name, celebrated at midsummer (Jāņi).
Its wave through time
A fashion of the 1940s
In the United States
- 48,950 babies given this name since 1909
- At its height in 1947, about 1 in 553 girls
- 9 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
| English | John |
|---|---|
| Lithuanian | Jonas |
Famous bearers
- Jānis Čakste, first president of Latvia
- Jānis Rainis, poet (pen name of Jānis Pliekšāns)
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Parish baptism registers
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.