Jennifer
Jennifer was given to 501 girls in 2025, #586 among girls’ names; 1,476,540 Americans have been recorded with it since 1919 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1.39 million Americans named Jennifer and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 41 and 53.
Jennifer is the #2 most common first name among living American women and girls, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jennifer by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jennifer mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jennifer is “a female given name from Cornish.”
From Cornish Gweniver, from Middle Cornish Gwynnever (cognate with Welsh Gwenhwyfar), from Proto-Brythonic *Gwɨnnohuɨβar. Doublet of Guinevere. Compare Irish Fionnabhair, which may be cognate. The /d͡ʒ/ consonantism is due to Anglo-Norman influence; compare Old French Genievre /d͡ʒəˈniɛ̯vɾə/, /d͡ʒəˈnjɛvɾə/.
/ˈd͡ʒɛnɪfɚ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jennifer?
#586 among girls’ names, 2025
Jennifer fell from #251 in 2015 to #586 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.72 to 0.31 per 1,000.
63,790 babies in 1972, the peak
Jennifer peaked in 1972, when 63,790 babies were given it (63,600 girls, #1 among girls’ names). The 501 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 501 | #586 | 0.31 |
| 2024 | 556 | #544 | 0.34 |
| 2023 | 586 | #520 | 0.37 |
| 2022 | 630 | #501 | 0.38 |
| 2021 | 638 | #494 | 0.39 |
| 2020 | 713 | #431 | 0.44 |
| 2019 | 788 | #391 | 0.47 |
| 2018 | 921 | #344 | 0.54 |
| 2017 | 1,052 | #309 | 0.61 |
| 2016 | 1,162 | #272 | 0.66 |
Every recorded year (107)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,286 | #251 | 0.72 |
| 2014 | 1,521 | #222 | 0.85 |
| 2013 | 1,692 | #192 | 1.0 |
| 2012 | 1,928 | #164 | 1.1 |
| 2011 | 2,281 | #134 | 1.3 |
| 2010 | 2,622 | #121 | 1.5 |
| 2009 | 2,987 | #110 | 1.6 |
| 2008 | 3,797 | #84 | 2.0 |
| 2007 | 4,653 | #64 | 2.4 |
| 2006 | 5,268 | #51 | 2.8 |
| 2005 | 5,837 | #42 | 3.2 |
| 2004 | 6,545 | #39 | 3.6 |
| 2003 | 7,569 | #31 | 4.1 |
| 2002 | 8,540 | #28 | 4.8 |
| 2001 | 8,923 | #26 | 5.0 |
| 2000 | 9,390 | #26 | 5.2 |
| 1999 | 10,616 | #21 | 6.0 |
| 1998 | 10,692 | #20 | 6.1 |
| 1997 | 11,840 | #18 | 6.8 |
| 1996 | 11,732 | #19 | 6.7 |
| 1995 | 12,683 | #18 | 7.2 |
| 1994 | 14,001 | #17 | 7.8 |
| 1993 | 15,749 | #15 | 8.7 |
| 1992 | 17,819 | #11 | 9.7 |
| 1991 | 20,673 | #8 | 11.0 |
| 1990 | 22,236 | #8 | 11.7 |
| 1989 | 24,006 | #7 | 13.0 |
| 1988 | 27,893 | #5 | 15.7 |
| 1987 | 32,710 | #4 | 18.8 |
| 1986 | 36,187 | #4 | 21.1 |
| 1985 | 42,661 | #3 | 24.8 |
| 1984 | 50,564 | #1 | 30.0 |
| 1983 | 54,353 | #1 | 32.5 |
| 1982 | 57,120 | #1 | 33.7 |
| 1981 | 57,046 | #1 | 34.2 |
| 1980 | 58,374 | #1 | 35.2 |
| 1979 | 56,712 | #1 | 35.3 |
| 1978 | 56,314 | #1 | 36.8 |
| 1977 | 58,964 | #1 | 38.5 |
| 1976 | 59,473 | #1 | 40.6 |
| 1975 | 58,190 | #1 | 39.9 |
| 1974 | 63,107 | #1 | 43.0 |
| 1973 | 62,448 | #1 | 42.8 |
| 1972 | 63,600 | #1 | 41.8 |
| 1971 | 56,771 | #1 | 34.1 |
| 1970 | 46,150 | #1 | 26.4 |
| 1969 | 33,705 | #3 | 20.0 |
| 1968 | 26,853 | #4 | 16.4 |
| 1967 | 18,236 | #10 | 11.0 |
| 1966 | 18,215 | #10 | 10.8 |
| 1965 | 15,207 | #20 | 8.6 |
| 1964 | 12,955 | #31 | 6.8 |
| 1963 | 11,757 | #36 | 6.1 |
| 1962 | 10,977 | #41 | 5.6 |
| 1961 | 9,265 | #47 | 4.6 |
| 1960 | 7,243 | #61 | 3.6 |
| 1959 | 6,233 | #78 | 3.1 |
| 1958 | 5,882 | #81 | 2.9 |
| 1957 | 5,483 | #87 | 2.7 |
| 1956 | 4,711 | #97 | 2.3 |
| 1955 | 4,123 | #104 | 2.1 |
| 1954 | 3,966 | #108 | 2.0 |
| 1953 | 3,375 | #116 | 1.8 |
| 1952 | 3,527 | #107 | 1.9 |
| 1951 | 2,973 | #119 | 1.7 |
| 1950 | 2,802 | #118 | 1.6 |
| 1949 | 2,618 | #121 | 1.5 |
| 1948 | 1,882 | #151 | 1.1 |
| 1947 | 2,010 | #145 | 1.1 |
| 1946 | 1,733 | #156 | 1.1 |
| 1945 | 985 | #200 | 0.75 |
| 1944 | 684 | #263 | 0.52 |
| 1943 | 337 | #397 | 0.24 |
| 1942 | 198 | #527 | 0.15 |
| 1941 | 136 | #605 | 0.11 |
| 1940 | 102 | #689 | 0.09 |
| 1939 | 62 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1938 | 51 | #997 | 0.05 |
| 1937 | 38 | #1,167 | 0.04 |
| 1936 | 42 | #1,091 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 36 | #1,190 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 41 | #1,112 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 30 | #1,323 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 25 | #1,543 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 26 | #1,471 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 17 | #2,062 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 17 | #2,049 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,956 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 5 | #5,184 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 9 | #3,394 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,505 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 11 | #3,060 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,495 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 7 | #4,218 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 5 | #5,489 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,170 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,505 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Jennifer a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Jennifer has been given almost only to girls: 4,837 boys in 107 years of records.
Girls and boys named Jennifer: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jennifer, and how old are they?
1.39 million alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 1,476,540 Americans ever recorded as Jennifer. The median Jennifer alive today is 47 years old; half are between 41 and 53.
The 2020 Census counted 1,331,077 people named Jennifer (1,330,100 women and girls, 977 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,410,610 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,420 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 84,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 706,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 484,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 103,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 12,000 |
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 Jennifer born?
The states with the most babies named Jennifer are California, New York and Texas, with 26% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 176,336 | #446 | 1.1× |
| New York | 112,465 | #538 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 100,134 | #563 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 77,341 | #585 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 75,254 | #546 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 73,145 | #497 | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 60,620 | #615 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 54,842 | #561 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 47,650 | #801 | 1.1× |
| Massachusetts | 41,024 | #656 | 1.1× |
Where Jennifer is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Jennifer is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1919 it was given 1.1 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 Jennifer 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 1,513,673 babies since 1880, Jennifer is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 501 of their 522 babies (96%), 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 Jennifer
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 Jennifer and names like it
- Compare Jennifer and JeniferBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sJennifer peaked in 1972.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jennifer since 1910.
- The top names of 1972The year the most babies were named Jennifer.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Jennifer alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with JMost given first.