Janie is a pet form of Jane, the English feminine of John, and so means "God is gracious". It has an old-fashioned, affectionate ring and belongs to Janie Crawford, the heroine of Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie hovered around number 1000 in the 2000s, peaking at number 946 in 2002, and has sat between number 1390 and 1790 for the past decade, ranking number 1329 in 2025.