Jane is a feminine given name. It is the English form of Jehanne , the Old French feminine form of Iohannes, a Latin form of the Greek name Ἰωάννης Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan), a short form of the name יְהוֹחָנָן (Yehochanan), meaning "Yahweh is merciful".[1]
The name was first used in large numbers in the mid-16th century for the daughters of aristocrats as an alternative to the more commonplace Joan . The two names have alternated in popularity. In the early 19th century, Jane rose in popular use in association with its perceived glamour. Joan became more popular in the early to mid-20th century, when it was ranked in the top 500 most popular names given to girls in the United States, but it has again been displaced by Jane on the popularity charts in the 21st century.
People with this name
Arts
Crime
Jane Andrews (born 1967), murderer of Tom CressmanJane Britton (1945–1969), female murder victimJane Cakebread (1830–1898), infamous drunkard; the Inebriates Act 1898 was directly due to her caseJane Toppan (1854–1938), American serial killer, nicknamed "Jolly Jane"
Entertainment
Jane Alexander (born 1939), American actress and authorJane Asher (born 1946), English actress and authorJane Avril (1868–1943), French dancerJane Badler (born 1953), American–Australian actress and singerJane Barbe (1928–2003), American voice artist and singerJane Bathori (1877–1970), French opera singerJane Baxter (1909–1996), German–born English actressJane Birkin (1946–2023), English–French actress and singerJane Bryan (1918–2009), American actressJane Campion (born 1954), New Zealand filmmakerJane Curtin (born 1947), American actress and comedianJane Darwell (1879–1967), American actressJane De Leon (born 1998), Filipina actressJane de Wet (born 1996), South African actressJane Espenson (born 1964), American producer and screenwriterJane Fonda (born 1937), American actress and fitness instructor, daughter of Henry Fonda Jane Froman (1907–1980), American actress and singerJane Goldman (born 1970), English author, producer, and screenwriter, wife of Jonathan Ross Jane Greer (1924–2001), American actressJane Horrocks (born 1964), English actressJane Huang (born 1983), Taiwanese singerJane Kaczmarek (born 1955), American actressJane Kean (1923–2013), American actress and singerJane Krakowski (born 1968), American actressJane Lapotaire (born 1944), English actressJane Lawrence (1915–2005), American actress and opera singerJane Leeves (born 1961), English actressJane Levy (born 1989), American actressJane Lowry (1937–2019), American actressJane Lynch (born 1960), American actress, comedian, and singerJane March (born 1973), English actressJane McDonald (born 1963), English singer and television presenterJane McGregor (born 1983), Canadian actressJane Monheit (born 1977), American singerJane Morgan (born 1924), American actress and singerJane Novak (1896–1990), American actressJane Peyton (1870–1946), American actressJane Pickens (1907–1992), American singerJane Powell (1929–2021), American actress, dancer, and singerJane Randolph (1914–2009), American actressJane Remover (born 2003), American musicianJane Rosenthal (born 1956), American film producerJane Russell (1921–2011), American actressJane Seymour (born 1951), English actressJane Sibbett (born 1962), American actressJane Siberry (born 1955), Canadian singer and songwriterJane Sourza (1902–1969), French actressJane Tilden (1910–2002), Austrian actressJane Turner (born 1960), Australian actress, comedian, and screenwriterJane Wagner (born 1935), American director, producer, and writerJane Weaver (born 1972), English musician, singer, and songwriterJane Wiedlin (born 1958), American musician and singer, member of The Go-Go's Jane Winton (1905–1959), American actress, dancer, painter, writer, and operatic sopranoJane Withers (1926–2021), American actress and radio show hostJane Wolfe (1875–1958), American actressJane Wyatt (1910–2006), American actressJane Wyman (1917–2007), American actress, ex-wife of the 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan Jane Zhang (born 1984), Chinese singer and songwriter
History
Calamity Jane (1852–1903), U.S. frontierswomanJane Addams (1860–1935), American Nobel Peace Prize-winning social worker and co-founder of Hull HouseJane Kelley Adams (1852–1924), American educatorJane Grace Alexander (1848–1932), American bankerJane Digby (1807–1881), English adventurerJane Franklin (née Griffin; 1791–1875), English explorerJane Gemmill (1855-?), Scottish temperance activistJane Horney (1918–1945), Swedish spy during WWIIJane Roe , alias of Norma McCorvey (1947–2017), plaintiff in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States
Literature
Jane Austen (1775–1817), British novelist, known for Emma and Pride and Prejudice Jane Bowles (1917–1973), American writer and playwrightJane T. H. Cross (1817–1870), American authorJane Louise Curry (born 1932), American writerJane Lewers Gray (1796-1871), Northern Ireland-born American poet and hymnwriterJane Eaton Hamilton (born 1954), Canadian authorJane Hamilton (born 1957), American authorJane Harvey (writer) (1771–1848) British poet and novelistJane Jacobs (1916–2006), American-Canadian journalist, author, and urban theoristJane Lindskold (born 1962), American authorJane Roberts (1929–1984), American author, poet, psychic, and spirit mediumJane Smiley (born 1949), American novelistJane Agnes Stewart (1860-1944), American author, editor, and contributor to periodicalsJane Suiter , Irish journalist and academicJane Taylor (1783–1824), English poet and novelistJane Urquhart (born 1949), Canadian novelist and poetJane Wilde (1821–1896), Irish poet under the pen name SperanzaJane Wilde Hawking (born 1944), ex-wife of Stephen HawkingJane T. Worthington (1821-1847), American essayist, poetJane Yolen (born 1939), American author
News media
Jane Elliott (born 1933), American civil rights activist, known for "Blue eyes–Brown eyes" exercise.Jane Grant (1892–1972) American journalistJane Hill (born 1969), British newsreaderJane Kramer (born 1938), American journalistJane Pauley (born 1950), American television journalistJane Pratt (born 1962), American magazine editor and publisher
Politics
Jane Harman (born 1945), member of the United States House of Representatives, representing California's 36th congressional districtJane Irwin Harrison (1804–1845), first lady of the United StatesJane Hill (1936–2015), Australian politicianJenny (Jane) Kenney (1884–1961) also known as Jennie, British suffragette and Montessori teacherJane Muskie (1927–2004), First Lady of MaineJane Pierce (1806–1863), first lady of the United States from 1853 to 1857Jane Pringle , American politicianFlorence Jane Short (aka Rachel Peace) (1881 – died after 1932), British feminist and suffragette
Jane Swift (born 1965), American politician, acting governor of Massachusetts from 2001 to 2003Jane Lomax-Smith (born 1950), Australian politician
Religion
Royalty and nobility
Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (1505–1542)Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes (born 1957)Lady Jane Grey (1537–1554), Queen of England, also known as "Jane of England"Jane Ingleby (died 1651), English aristocrat, recusant, and female soldierJane Lane, Lady Fisher (1626–1689), played a heroic role in the escape of Charles II in 1651Jane Loeau (1828–1873), Hawaiian noble ladyJane Seymour (1508–1537), Queen and wife of King Henry VIII of EnglandJane Spencer, Baroness Churchill (1826–1900)Jane Wharton, 7th Baroness Wharton (1706–1761)
Science
Jane Ammons (born 1953), American industrial engineerJane Colden (1724–1766), American botanistJane Forer Gentleman (1940–2023), American and Canadian statisticianJane Goodall (born 1934), English primatologist, known for studying chimpanzees and founder of the Jane Goodall InstituteJane Lord Hersom (1840–1928), American physician, suffragistJane Hutton , British statisticianJane Loevinger (1918–2008), American developmental psychologistJane Luu (born 1963), Vietnamese-American astronomer and defense systems engineerJane McGrath (1966–2008), co-founder of the McGrath FoundationJane H. Rider (1889-1981), engineer and bacteriologistJane M. Simoni , American clinical psychologist
Sport
Jane Barkman (born 1951), American swimmerJane Burley (born 1971), Scottish field hockey midfielderJane Cederqvist (1945–2023), Swedish swimmerJane Frederick (born 1952), American heptathleteJane Haist (1949–2022), Canadian discus thrower and shot putterJane Joseph , Trinidadian cricketerJane Katz (born 1943), American swimmerJane Patterson , Canadian judokaJane Salumäe (born 1968), Estonian long-distance runnerJayne Torvill (born 1957), British ice-dancer and 1984 Olympic gold medalist with partner Christopher DeanJane Weiller (1912–1989), American golfer
Other
Fictional characters
In law
Jane Doe or Jane Roe is used in American law as a placeholder name for anonymous or unknown female participants in legal proceedings
Jane Doe is used in United States police investigations when the identity of a female victim is unknown or incorrect, and by hospitals to refer to a female corpse or patient whose identity is unknown.
Characters in animation
Comic book characters
Characters in literature
Jane , an AI character first introduced in Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead Jane of the Volturi Coven, a character in the Twilight
Jane Crocker, a character in the webcomic Homestuck
Dick and Jane , characters by Zerna SharpJane , an entity resembling modern conceptions of AI, from the Ender's Game seriesJane, in Jane and the Dragon
Jane, any of three characters in The P.L.A.I.N. Janes , 2007 comic & sequels, by Cecil Castellucci
Jane, Wendy Darling's daughter from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan mythos; Jane was also the central character in the Disney Peter Pan movie sequel, Return to Neverland
Jane Banks, one of the Banks' children in the Mary Poppins books, film, and stage musical
Jane Bennet, in Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre , the titular character of a famous novel by Charlotte Brontë and several film adaptationsJane Gallagher, a character in The Catcher in the Rye
Baby Jane Hudson , the titular character in the novel and film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Miss Marple (first name Jane), an amateur detective created by Agatha ChristieJane Porter , the sweetheart of TarzanJayne Deverill , a Yorkshire witch in the Power of Five series by Anthony HorowitzJane Studdock , protagonist in That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
Characters in TV, film, and theater
Jane , on 7th Heaven Jane Sloan, from the TV series The Bold Type
Jane Christie, from the TV series Coupling
Jane Beale (previously Collins), from the BBC soap opera EastEnders Jayne Cobb , a male character on the sci-fi series Firefly G.I. Jane Jane Mancini , on Melrose Place and the 2009 remakeJane Vaughn , in Degrassi: The Next Generation Jane Gloriana Villanueva , main character of television series Jane the Virgin Jane Margolis, in the television series Breaking Bad
Jane Rizzoli, in the television series Rizzoli & Isles
Jane Hopper, also known as Eleven, a main character in the Netflix series Stranger Things
Jane Read , character in the Arthur book and television series
Characters in video games
Jane, a minor female character in the Tekken video game series
Jane Shepard, a playable female version of Commander Shepard in the role-playing third-person shooter Mass Effect series; "Jane Shepard" is the default name for any new female Shepard character that is built in-game, although any name can be entered
Jane Doe, a male character most commonly known as "The Soldier" in the popular class-based shooter game Team Fortress 2
In technology
Jane, an available voice on devices from TomTom 
