Jenessa
Jenessa was given to 12 girls in 2025, #8,579 among girls’ names; 3,221 Americans have been recorded with it since 1968 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,160 Americans named Jenessa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 18 and 36.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jenessa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jenessa mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jenessa is “a female given name originating as a coinage.”
Most likely a Blend of Jennifer + Vanessa.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jenessa?
#8,579 among girls’ names, 2025
Jenessa fell from #2,948 in 2015 to #8,579 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 33.1 to 7.5 per million.
156 babies in 1991, the peak
Jenessa peaked in 1991, when 156 girls were given it, #1,138 among girls’ names. The 12 births of 2025 are 8% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 | #8,579 | 7.5 |
| 2024 | 19 | #6,263 | 11.7 |
| 2023 | 15 | #7,420 | 9.3 |
| 2022 | 23 | #5,537 | 14.0 |
| 2021 | 25 | #5,148 | 15.2 |
| 2020 | 28 | #4,686 | 17.3 |
| 2019 | 22 | #5,691 | 13.1 |
| 2018 | 23 | #5,526 | 13.5 |
| 2017 | 46 | #3,410 | 26.6 |
| 2016 | 52 | #3,157 | 29.3 |
Every recorded year (56)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 59 | #2,948 | 33.1 |
| 2014 | 67 | #2,628 | 37.5 |
| 2013 | 69 | #2,582 | 39.3 |
| 2012 | 76 | #2,437 | 43.2 |
| 2011 | 98 | #2,006 | 55.7 |
| 2010 | 69 | #2,625 | 38.8 |
| 2009 | 69 | #2,658 | 37.6 |
| 2008 | 80 | #2,403 | 42.3 |
| 2007 | 96 | #2,105 | 49.9 |
| 2006 | 72 | #2,544 | 37.9 |
| 2005 | 115 | #1,722 | 62.2 |
| 2004 | 109 | #1,764 | 59.4 |
| 2003 | 103 | #1,819 | 56.4 |
| 2002 | 98 | #1,827 | 54.5 |
| 2001 | 85 | #1,999 | 47.2 |
| 2000 | 66 | #2,348 | 36.3 |
| 1999 | 81 | #1,941 | 45.7 |
| 1998 | 66 | #2,169 | 37.4 |
| 1997 | 65 | #2,139 | 37.3 |
| 1996 | 52 | #2,456 | 29.7 |
| 1995 | 66 | #2,057 | 37.5 |
| 1994 | 82 | #1,770 | 45.9 |
| 1993 | 83 | #1,763 | 45.9 |
| 1992 | 91 | #1,663 | 49.4 |
| 1991 | 156 | #1,138 | 83.2 |
| 1990 | 116 | #1,361 | 61.1 |
| 1989 | 81 | #1,689 | 43.9 |
| 1988 | 66 | #1,872 | 37.1 |
| 1987 | 81 | #1,556 | 46.6 |
| 1986 | 58 | #1,918 | 33.8 |
| 1985 | 70 | #1,667 | 40.7 |
| 1984 | 87 | #1,364 | 51.7 |
| 1983 | 44 | #2,209 | 26.3 |
| 1982 | 53 | #1,972 | 31.3 |
| 1981 | 42 | #2,350 | 25.2 |
| 1980 | 32 | #2,822 | 19.3 |
| 1979 | 41 | #2,317 | 25.5 |
| 1978 | 27 | #2,967 | 17.6 |
| 1977 | 19 | #3,808 | 12.4 |
| 1976 | 14 | #4,452 | 9.6 |
| 1975 | 5 | #9,631 | 3.4 |
| 1974 | 12 | #4,833 | 8.2 |
| 1973 | 11 | #5,013 | 7.5 |
| 1972 | 13 | #4,387 | 8.5 |
| 1970 | 5 | #8,511 | 2.9 |
| 1968 | 6 | #6,545 | 3.7 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Jenessa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Jenessa has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 56 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Jenessa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jenessa, and how old are they?
3,160 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 3,221 Americans ever recorded as Jenessa. The median Jenessa alive today is 26 years old; half are between 18 and 36.
The 2020 Census counted 2,691 people named Jenessa (2,688 women and girls, 3 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,061 born in the U.S. The Census count is 12% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 175 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,200 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,330 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 457 |
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 Jenessa born?
The states with the most babies named Jenessa are California, Texas and Utah, with 63% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Utah is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 595 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Texas | 150 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Utah | 131 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Florida | 71 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Illinois | 69 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Washington | 54 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Minnesota | 47 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New York | 43 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Wisconsin | 41 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Colorado | 40 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Jenessa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Jenessa is most over-represented in Utah: since 1968 it was given 3.1 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 Jenessa 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 4,711 babies since 1880, Jenessa is the most given (68% of them).
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 Jenessa
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 Jenessa and names like it
- Compare Jenessa and JennessaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sJenessa peaked in 1991.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jenessa since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Jenessa: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Jenessa.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Jenessa alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with JMost given first.