Janice
Meaning of Janice
Janice, pronounced JAN-is (/ˈdʒænɪs/), is a feminine elaboration of Jane—ultimately traced to the Hebrew Yōḥānān, “Yahweh is gracious”—fashioned in the early twentieth century when Anglophone naming patterns favored the soft, latinate suffix –ice; the form has occasionally invited a scholarly nod to the Roman gate-keeper Janus, yet its etymological pedigree remains firmly biblical. United States vital-records data show a steep ascent after the First World War, a sustained crest in the 1950s when Janice held a secure place inside the national Top 40, and a controlled, decades-long decline that positions it today near the lower end of the Top 900, rendering it statistically familiar but socially distinctive. Cultural memory preserves the name through figures such as supermodel Janice Dickinson and the guitar-strumming Muppet Janice, associations that root it in mid-century popular culture without confining it to that era; combined with its core meaning of divine graciousness, Janice offers contemporary parents a historically grounded, gently retro option that remains linguistically graceful and semantically affirmative.
Pronunciation
American English
- Pronunced as JAN-is (/ˈdʒænɪs/)
British English
- Pronunced as JAN-is (/ˈdʒanɪs/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Janice
| Janice Dickinson is an American supermodel of the 1970s and 1980s who later became a reality TV star as a judge on America's Next Top Model and the head of her own modeling agency. |
| Janice Rogers Brown is an American judge who served on the California Supreme Court before joining the federal appeals court in Washington DC. |
| Janice Hahn is an American Democratic politician who has served on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors since 2016, after earlier terms in Congress and on the Los Angeles City Council. |
| Janice Kapp Perry is an American composer and Latter-day Saint songwriter who has written over 3,000 songs, including the beloved children's favorite I Love to See the Temple. |
| Janice de Belen is a Filipino actress celebrated by local media as the Queen of Horror-Drama for her memorable roles in drama and horror films. |
| Janice McLaughlin was an American Catholic nun and human rights activist who was jailed in Rhodesia for exposing abuses against black citizens and later returned to help build Zimbabwe's school system. |
| Janice Arnold-Jones is a Republican politician who represented New Mexico's 24th district in the State House from 2003 to 2011. |
| Janice Limson is a South African biotechnology professor at Rhodes University who founded the online magazine Science in Africa and researches biosensors for cancer diagnostics and fuel cell technology. |
| Janice Bryant Howroyd is an entrepreneur and author who founded The ActOne Group and became the first African American woman to build and own a billion dollar company. |
| Janice Mirikitani was an American poet and activist who co-led San Francisco's Glide Memorial Church with her husband, Cecil Williams, and served as the city's poet laureate from 2000 to 2002. |
| Janice Fukakusa is a Canadian business executive who served as chief financial officer of the Royal Bank of Canada, became founding chair of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and was chancellor of Toronto Metropolitan University. |
| Janice Monk was an Australian American feminist geographer who studied the American Southwest and became an emeritus professor at the University of Arizona. |
| Janice Kiecolt-Glaser is an Ohio State University health psychologist known for her research on how stress from caregiving and marriage affects the immune system. |
| Janice Dean is a Canadian-born American weather presenter, TV host, and author who served as co-host and weather anchor on Fox and Friends before retiring from Fox News in 2026 for health reasons. |
| Janice Charette is a Canadian public servant who twice served as Clerk of the Privy Council, was high commissioner to the United Kingdom and became Canada's chief trade negotiator to the United States in 2026. |
