Janice

Where Janice comes from

Variant of Jane under apparent influence from Alice, Bernice, Eunice, etc., from French Jeanne, from Middle French Jehanne, from Medieval Latin Johanna, variant of Latin Ioanna under influence from Latin Iōhannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doublets. As a placeholder name, cf. similar use of John and Jack and earlier use of Joan in the same role. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shane, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena.
— Wiktionary's entry for Janice
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1894
    First appearance
    #1,485 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1951
    Peak, #21
    15,958 babies named Janice — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1955
    Janice Dickinson born
    American model and actress
  4. 1956
    Janice E. Voss born
    American engineer and NASA astronaut
  5. 1962
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #58.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name.
Namesakes
  • Janice Dickinson · American model and actress, born 1955
  • Janice E. Voss · American engineer and NASA astronaut, 1956–2012
  • Janice Rule · American actress, 1931–2003
  • Janice Rankin · Scottish and British curler, born 1972
  • Janice Tjen · Indonesian tennis player, born 2002

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.