Jānis
Only about 150 people in Poland carry it, every one of them a man: most Poles have never met one. It comes from Hebrew, where it meant "god is gracious".
Jānis Pronunciation
Jānis is pronounced YĀNYEES (/jāɲis/).
What Jānis means
Where Jānis comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Jānis begins in Hebrew, in the name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious." Greek and Latin passed it westward as John, and Latvian gave it the northern form Jānis. The macron over the first a stretches the vowel.
In Latvia the name keeps company with midsummer. On June 24 the country marks Jāņi, and every man called Jānis holds his name day that night. Fires burn late. The date ties the name to oak wreaths and long light.
Real bearers anchor it. Jānis Čakste became the first president of Latvia in 1922. The poet Jānis Rainis, born Jānis Pliekšāns, filled his verse with the same short name. On a Polish register the spelling looks foreign, yet the sense underneath stays plain: God is gracious.
How many people are named Jānis
1 in 142308 men in Poland is named Jānis. 150 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2651 among male names.
Jānis's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Jānis as a middle name
Jānis is a first name for 150 men in Poland and a middle name for another 5, a 97/3 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 4805th, between Jón (5) and Kailas (5).
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#4803 Juozas5
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#4804 Jón5
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#4805 Jānis5
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#4806 Kailas5
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#4807 Kais5