Jena
Jena was given to 23 girls in 2025, #5,473 among girls’ names; 13,248 Americans have been recorded with it since 1900 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 12,600 Americans named Jena and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 29 and 46.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jena by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jena mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jena is “a female given name of rare usage, variant of Gina.”
/ˈd͡ʒɛnə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jena?
#5,473 among girls’ names, 2025
Jena fell from #3,072 in 2015 to #5,473 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 30.8 to 14.3 per million.
619 babies in 1986, the peak
Jena peaked in 1986, when 619 girls were given it, #375 among girls’ names. The 23 births of 2025 are 4% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 23 | #5,473 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 17 | #6,775 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 24 | #5,306 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 25 | #5,229 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 35 | #4,129 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 29 | #4,599 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 37 | #3,960 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 39 | #3,812 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 40 | #3,806 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 35 | #4,195 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 55 | #3,072 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 53 | #3,121 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 52 | #3,142 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 81 | #2,324 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 67 | #2,647 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 104 | #1,932 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 104 | #1,996 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 115 | #1,857 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 114 | #1,852 | 0.06 |
| 2006 | 163 | #1,393 | 0.09 |
| 2005 | 173 | #1,294 | 0.09 |
| 2004 | 211 | #1,088 | 0.11 |
| 2003 | 195 | #1,127 | 0.11 |
| 2002 | 228 | #971 | 0.13 |
| 2001 | 252 | #901 | 0.14 |
| 2000 | 217 | #976 | 0.12 |
| 1999 | 265 | #818 | 0.15 |
| 1998 | 240 | #879 | 0.14 |
| 1997 | 270 | #775 | 0.16 |
| 1996 | 302 | #706 | 0.17 |
| 1995 | 299 | #701 | 0.17 |
| 1994 | 325 | #658 | 0.18 |
| 1993 | 377 | #608 | 0.21 |
| 1992 | 429 | #547 | 0.23 |
| 1991 | 377 | #597 | 0.20 |
| 1990 | 417 | #562 | 0.22 |
| 1989 | 470 | #501 | 0.25 |
| 1988 | 498 | #453 | 0.28 |
| 1987 | 582 | #396 | 0.33 |
| 1986 | 619 | #375 | 0.36 |
| 1985 | 614 | #371 | 0.36 |
| 1984 | 492 | #427 | 0.29 |
| 1983 | 177 | #862 | 0.11 |
| 1982 | 178 | #866 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 240 | #701 | 0.14 |
| 1980 | 205 | #796 | 0.12 |
| 1979 | 183 | #851 | 0.11 |
| 1978 | 186 | #805 | 0.12 |
| 1977 | 192 | #784 | 0.13 |
| 1976 | 170 | #821 | 0.12 |
| 1975 | 210 | #708 | 0.14 |
| 1974 | 173 | #788 | 0.12 |
| 1973 | 217 | #688 | 0.15 |
| 1972 | 136 | #916 | 0.09 |
| 1971 | 146 | #905 | 0.09 |
| 1970 | 140 | #923 | 0.08 |
| 1969 | 112 | #1,032 | 0.07 |
| 1968 | 126 | #920 | 0.08 |
| 1967 | 93 | #1,082 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 100 | #1,044 | 0.06 |
| 1965 | 110 | #990 | 0.06 |
| 1964 | 120 | #966 | 0.06 |
| 1963 | 139 | #892 | 0.07 |
| 1962 | 110 | #1,027 | 0.06 |
| 1961 | 90 | #1,161 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 69 | #1,333 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 53 | #1,484 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 59 | #1,389 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 48 | #1,555 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 47 | #1,552 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 41 | #1,606 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 33 | #1,811 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 26 | #2,046 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 32 | #1,757 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 20 | #2,279 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 19 | #2,289 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,782 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 15 | #2,644 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 28 | #1,838 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,673 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,249 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,866 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 9 | #3,358 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 5 | #4,942 | under 0.01 |
| 1940 | 6 | #4,076 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,992 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,908 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,991 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,715 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 5 | #4,874 | under 0.01 |
| 1927 | 6 | #4,539 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,731 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #5,447 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,494 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 5 | #5,487 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,645 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,328 | 0.01 |
| 1900 | 5 | #2,066 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Jena a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Jena has been given almost only to girls: 7 boys in 98 years of records.
Girls and boys named Jena: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jena, and how old are they?
12,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 13,248 Americans ever recorded as Jena. The median Jena alive today is 38 years old; half are between 29 and 46.
The 2020 Census counted 12,289 people named Jena (12,256 women and girls, 33 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 12,626 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 23 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 796 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,330 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,230 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,770 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 461 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Jena born?
The states with the most babies named Jena are California, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,147 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 878 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 674 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New York | 587 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 584 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Florida | 550 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 516 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 428 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Louisiana | 382 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Wisconsin | 366 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Jena is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Jena is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1910 it was given 1.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Jena with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 284,795 babies since 1880, Jena is the third most given (4.7% of them). In 2025 it was given to 23 of their 638 babies (3.6%), again the third most given.
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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Jena
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Jena and names like it
- Compare Jena and JennaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sJena peaked in 1986.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jena since 1910.
- The top names of 1986The year the most babies were named Jena.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Jena alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with JMost given first.