Jenelle
Jenelle was given to 19 girls in 2025, #6,210 among girls’ names; 7,204 Americans have been recorded with it since 1917 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,670 Americans named Jenelle and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 39 years old and half are between 25 and 47.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jenelle by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Jenelle?
#6,210 among girls’ names, 2025
Jenelle fell from #2,133 in 2015 to #6,210 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 50.4 to 11.8 per million.
253 babies in 1981, the peak
Jenelle peaked in 1981, when 253 girls were given it, #688 among girls’ names. The 19 births of 2025 are 8% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 19 | #6,210 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 17 | #6,776 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 29 | #4,688 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 38 | #3,917 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 35 | #4,130 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 56 | #2,911 | 0.03 |
| 2019 | 53 | #3,063 | 0.03 |
| 2018 | 64 | #2,697 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 65 | #2,679 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 74 | #2,468 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (107)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 90 | #2,133 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 83 | #2,260 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 97 | #2,009 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 105 | #1,907 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 130 | #1,647 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 64 | #2,767 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 63 | #2,807 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 84 | #2,326 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 79 | #2,408 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 89 | #2,171 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 73 | #2,413 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 80 | #2,211 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 83 | #2,108 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 79 | #2,125 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 91 | #1,909 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 57 | #2,606 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 70 | #2,157 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 96 | #1,669 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 76 | #1,917 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 95 | #1,618 | 0.05 |
| 1995 | 92 | #1,613 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 91 | #1,649 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 110 | #1,452 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 149 | #1,176 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 168 | #1,077 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 154 | #1,123 | 0.08 |
| 1989 | 161 | #1,056 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 157 | #1,028 | 0.09 |
| 1987 | 197 | #862 | 0.11 |
| 1986 | 192 | #863 | 0.11 |
| 1985 | 247 | #707 | 0.14 |
| 1984 | 220 | #741 | 0.13 |
| 1983 | 212 | #761 | 0.13 |
| 1982 | 245 | #709 | 0.14 |
| 1981 | 253 | #688 | 0.15 |
| 1980 | 222 | #747 | 0.13 |
| 1979 | 218 | #746 | 0.14 |
| 1978 | 201 | #768 | 0.13 |
| 1977 | 151 | #928 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 123 | #1,019 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 86 | #1,296 | 0.06 |
| 1974 | 106 | #1,097 | 0.07 |
| 1973 | 77 | #1,316 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 77 | #1,319 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 73 | #1,432 | 0.04 |
| 1970 | 62 | #1,565 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 70 | #1,377 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 64 | #1,409 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 53 | #1,544 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 46 | #1,656 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 34 | #2,014 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 33 | #2,083 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 34 | #2,035 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 40 | #1,813 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 34 | #2,012 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 18 | #2,939 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 30 | #2,073 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 30 | #2,039 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 28 | #2,086 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 21 | #2,493 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 23 | #2,300 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 21 | #2,405 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 18 | #2,552 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 20 | #2,360 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 22 | #2,150 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 16 | #2,604 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 17 | #2,457 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 22 | #2,095 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 14 | #2,820 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 13 | #2,797 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 24 | #1,715 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 8 | #3,521 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 8 | #3,630 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,558 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 9 | #3,112 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 19 | #1,862 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 21 | #1,702 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 20 | #1,776 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,503 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 10 | #2,766 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,567 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 16 | #2,035 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,992 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,559 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 9 | #3,089 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 11 | #2,764 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 10 | #3,029 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,413 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 10 | #3,157 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,678 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 13 | #2,733 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 12 | #2,817 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 11 | #3,045 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 10 | #3,262 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,778 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 7 | #4,031 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,329 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Jenelle a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Jenelle has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 107 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Jenelle: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jenelle, and how old are they?
6,670 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 7,204 Americans ever recorded as Jenelle. The median Jenelle alive today is 39 years old; half are between 25 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 6,437 people named Jenelle (6,422 women and girls, 15 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,620 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 | 70 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 360 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,560 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,660 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,310 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 715 |
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 Jenelle born?
The states with the most babies named Jenelle are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 53% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,188 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| New York | 679 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 296 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 289 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 260 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 257 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Florida | 206 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 193 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Washington | 110 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Minnesota | 103 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Jenelle is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Jenelle is most over-represented in California: since 1917 it was given 1.4 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 Jenelle 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 12,053 babies since 1880, Jenelle is the most given (60% of them). In 2025 it was given to 19 of their 27 babies (70%), again the 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 Jenelle
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 Jenelle and names like it
- Compare Jenelle and JeanelleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sJenelle peaked in 1981.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jenelle since 1910.
- The top names of 1981The year the most babies were named Jenelle.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Jenelle alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with JMost given first.