Classic Girls’ Names: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Aww I love Jane, it’s my middle name but I think it’s much more beautiful as a first name. And I adore Janie too

Jane is my middle name too, when i was a teen I wanted to add a Y like Jayne Mansfield as I thought that looked cooler. I cringe at that idea now! I love just Jane.

My boyfriend’s sister is named Jane, she is 24 or 25. I think the name is very sweet but a little too simple for my taste in first names. It surely has potential for a middle name though!

Love Jane. I think it’s only a matter of time before this resurfaces big time.

I really really really love the name Jane, and not just as a middle name. I just found out I am pregnant with #2, and Jane is at the top of my list if it’s a girl. Love all the international cognates, too — my son is Leo, and it’s one of the reasons we chose that name for him.

I’m nickname-phobic in general, but I even love Janie.

I do love Jane but like Anne I feel she is too short to use in a first spot for me.
I do love how she can pull a name together when placed in a middle name spot.
I do love Sinead and Siobhan though, but dh won’t consider a gaelic name in the first name spot.

My Mother was born Francesca Joan and changed it to Frances Jane in HS. Since she forbade me to ever use Frances/Francesca, I playy with both sexy little Joan & demure Jane.
I think I actually like Joan more than Jane but Jane figures pretty heavily as a second middle for me.

I like most of the feminine cognates of John as well as John but find both John & Jane a bit short and a tiny bit plain up front. I need them paired witth something spicier. Some of my favorite pairings:
Saffron Jane
Jane Henrietta
India Jane
John Porfirio
Wilder John

Those work better for me. Jane is sweet, but too simple for me.

I actually really like Jane! But sadly, our last name starts with J, and the alliteration is just too much for us. Boo. I wouldn’t trade my last name for the world, but I love so many impossible J names!

My middle name is Jane too. I used to play with writing it Jhane after the designer Jhane Barnes. Since there were only 800 Janes last year maybe I will switch and go by my middle name.

@Lola – India Jane and Saffron are at the top of our list too. Just did not have Jane with Saffron. We have two more embryos and so hoping for girls. Can both have the middle name Jane?

I love the name Jane! So classic but simple. And I love that Jane can honor a James or John in the family.

@tikicatt: I don’t see why they can’t! I know plenty of boy sibsets both with Dad’s or Grandad’s first name as a middle, why not sisters Saffron Jane & India Jane!

It doesn’t hurt that Jayne from Firefly (which also has a Saffron) is such a fun character. For those not in the know, Jayne is a very tall, very male thug. And yet he wears his name with pride.

My mom’s name is Jane. In high school she was referred to by Janie so many times she scrapped it all together and now goes exclusively by JJ

I love the name Jane! It is my grandmother’s middle name as well as my older sister, so it would be a great way to honor them. Right now I really like the combo Vera Isabella Jane, but I would love to put it in first place if the right middle name came along.

This article summarized all of the reasons why I love this name. My 3rd daughter is one of the 2010 babies with the first name, Jane.

Jane is attractive for me because it’s short, sweet and simple but certainly not plain. I think it’s a perfect example of the phrase: Less is MORE!

The dutch Johanna has some other forms too: Janneke and Janny.

I LOVE Jane, and Jane Grey and Jane Austen are just two of the reasons why I fell in love with it in the first place. I hope if/when my time comes I’ll be brave enough to use it.

@Saranel: I think JJ is such a cute nickname (because of the character on “Criminal Minds”, of course) and I’d totally go for alliteration if it meant I could use this.

Thank you! I love Jane and it’s definitely not plain.

This has been my mantra for the last three years: What happened to Jane? I’ve had students named Johnesia, Janna, Janae, Janessa, Jannah, Jonna, ad nauseam — what’s wrong with Jane, Joan, Jean, and Joanna? I love Jane and would use it if that were a possibility (however, my baby days are done). I also love Jennet/Jennie, an old Scottish form of Janet, another version of Jane. (I also had a student named Zhane.)
I love the short, old-fashioned names — Jane, Ann, May. They are simple in the best sense of the word.

I loved this post!! My mom, my husband, and my husband’s grandpa have versions of this name. I have been thinking in how to honor them, and international versions would help overcome confusion between very close relatives.
@keaton: have you consider as an option Giovanni nn Gio?

Love both Jane and Joan as a first name, and they both make a pretty sweet middle name too

I’ve long suspected that part of the appeal of the name Jennifer was in its nicknames, which sound similar to the long-popular Jean, Jane, and Joan and all their derivatives (I think the same is true of the “Ka-” names linking to “Katherine” and the “Al” names linking to Elizabeth). I know that a hundred years before I was born, my great-great grandmother Jane was known as Jennie, and the reason my name is Jennifer is because my dad liked Jennie.

I love Jane. DH loves Jane. We really wanted to use it if our little one is a girl; however, all of the grandparents (and great-grandparents) vetoed the name as too “common” and too “plain”. Even some of my contemporaries told me it was too plain, too simple, or reminded them of “Having Fun with Dick and Jane”. I would guess those are the reasons it’s not commonly used today although I would predict that it would grow in some popularity soon with a lot of similar names seeming to re-emerge.

I love the name Jane it is my best friends middle name. What I don’t understand is that people just all of a sudden forgot about the name Jane, and that might make people that have the name Jane mad sad or upset.

When you said how Bronte can you get I know a girl called Bronte Jane and I know a girl with a very Jane Austin name Austyn Jane.

I love Jane but my sister Miki has bagsed it for her daughter

all these names are great but one of my favrouts are valina its souns Just how its spelt

I love Jane as a middle name especially with a long name in the first spot! I love that style of naming with 2/3 syllable first name and a 1 syllable middle name. Some names like Anne and Rose, to name a few seem too overused to me, while Jane seems to be forever young.

Have to say I love the name Jane..since it’s my first name, I used to hate it but, it has been pretty nice growing up not ever knowing another one my age. I do have a very classic name my middle name is Elizabeth. Kudos to my Mom.

[...] is unique among the body of traditional, classic girls’ names.  She’s more feminine and dainty than Mary and Helen, more substantive than Ann or Jane or Jean, [...]

My darling daughter’s name, chosen because we couldn’t find one thing wrong with it. It’s just lovely.