Jen
Jen was last recorded in 2015, when 14 babies were given it; 404 Americans have been recorded with it between 1922 and 2015 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jen mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jen is “a female given name.”
Usually a clipped or hypocoristic form of Jennifer, although also used for Jean, Jeanette, Jeannette, etc. Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna in these secondary derivations.
/d͡ʒɛn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jen?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #18,548, in 2009; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
17 babies in 2010, the peak
Jen peaked in 2010, when 17 babies were given it (0 girls, #0 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | under 5 | 14 | #6,120 | |
| 2014 | under 5 | 11 | #7,258 | |
| 2012 | under 5 | 9 | #8,465 | |
| 2011 | under 5 | 14 | #6,075 | |
| 2010 | under 5 | 17 | #5,352 | |
| 2009 | 5 | #18,548 | 6 | #11,624 |
| 2005 | 6 | #15,319 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 8 | #12,074 | under 5 | |
| 2001 | 8 | #11,449 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 5 | #14,714 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (49)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | under 5 | 6 | #8,210 | |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,067 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,403 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 9 | #4,478 | |
| 1980 | 5 | #11,015 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 5 | #10,389 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 9 | #6,245 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 9 | #5,943 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 11 | #5,012 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,636 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 13 | #4,393 | under 5 | |
| 1970 | 13 | #4,339 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 6 | #6,964 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 11 | #4,315 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,205 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 5 | #6,922 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 6 | #6,321 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 12 | #3,883 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 12 | #3,884 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 6 | #6,127 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 5 | #6,753 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 14 | #3,323 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 8 | #4,673 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,489 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 9 | #4,287 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 7 | #4,924 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 10 | #3,827 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 8 | #4,379 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 13 | #3,105 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,098 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 9 | #3,800 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 7 | #4,421 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 6 | #4,908 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,672 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,865 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,991 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 5 | #4,550 | under 5 | |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,645 | under 5 | |
| 1922 | 5 | #5,376 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Jen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 404 Americans recorded as Jen, 79% are girls and 21% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Jen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jen, and how old are they?
An estimated 343 Americans named Jen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 55 years old and half are between 22 and 67. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 16,431 people named Jen (15,864 women and girls, 567 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 360 born in the U.S. The Census count is 45.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Jen rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 485,024 babies since 1880, Jen is the third most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 311 babies recorded by SSA was a Jen (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Jen and names like it
- Compare Jen and JeanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sJen peaked in 2010.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jen since 1910.
- The top names of 2010The year the most babies were named Jen.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Jen alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with JMost given first.