Janie’s Notebook: Personalized Journal for Janie
Give Janie a notebook that's unmistakably hers. Janie's Notebook has her name in elegant script over a pink watercolor apple blossom cover.
- 160 lined pages
- 6" x 9" paperback
- Watercolor apple blossom cover with "Janie's Notebook" on the front
- Printed and shipped by Amazon
Where does the name Janie come from?
Janie is a diminutive of Jane, says Behind the Name. Jane is the medieval English form of Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of John, and by the 17th century it was the most common feminine form of John in English. Janie is warm and old-fashioned, and was given as a name in its own right as early as the 1880s.
Other forms of Janie
Behind the Name lists Jan, Janey, Jaynie, Jenny and Jennie among Janie’s English relatives, along with Janet, Janelle and Janette. A Janie can switch to Jane for formal occasions.
Well-known Janies
Janie Crawford is the heroine of Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston. Wikipedia says the novel follows Janie’s ripening “from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny”. Set in Florida in the early 20th century, it is a classic of the Harlem Renaissance, and Time included it in its 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923.
Janie’s popularity
Janie has had two American eras. US Social Security data has it in the top 200 in the 1880s, 1890s and 1900s, then again at 180th in the 1940s, when more than 13,100 girls were named Janie. Behind the Name says it last ranked in the US top 1,000 in 2002 and was 100th in Quebec in 1994.
A few more things about Janie
Janie’s story was written in just seven weeks. Wikipedia says Zora Neale Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God in Haiti, and later said she wished she could write it again. The novel was poorly received by the African-American community at first, but Alice Walker’s 1975 essay “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston” brought Hurston back into the literary spotlight, and the book is now a staple of school and college courses.
Gift ideas with Janie in mind
- For a reader. A reading journal for American classics.
- For Black History Month. A notebook for a name linked to the Harlem Renaissance.
- For a writer. A notebook for a novel written in seven weeks.
- For a trip to Florida. A travel diary for sunshine and porches.
A notebook for every Janie
Janie’s Notebook works just as well for a teenager as for a grandmother. It’s 6" x 9", which fits in most bags, with 160 lined pages and no printed layout to work around. Use it as a diary, a school notebook, a planner or a place to collect quotes and ideas. A name on the cover turns an everyday notebook into something personal.
Why choose a personalized notebook?
A plain notebook is useful. One with her name on it is a gift. Seeing “Janie’s Notebook” on the cover tells Janie it was chosen for her, not grabbed off a shelf, and that small touch is often what makes people keep a notebook going instead of abandoning it after a week.
Frequently asked questions
How big is Janie’s Notebook? 6" x 9", or about 15.2 x 22.9 cm. It’s a paperback with 160 lined pages inside.
Where do I buy it? Janie’s Notebook is available on Amazon, which prints each copy to order and looks after delivery and refunds.
Do you have other names? We do, hundreds of them. Browse all name notebooks or read how to find a name on our personalized name notebooks page.
See Janie's Notebook on Amazon
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Janie's Notebook is published by Black Stag Publishing.