girl's name
Jenna
JEN-uh
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 179,129
the United States
#679
2025 births
Jenna is a girl's name that began as an elaboration of Jenny and is now used independently. It fell hard in the United States after a 1985 peak of 6,454 births, yet it still ranks 199th in France — the only market where it holds a top 200 place.
- Jenna is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1985, when 6,454 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 7,931 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1915.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Jenna over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1910s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 26 |
| 1920s | 70 |
| 1930s | 159 |
| 1940s | 155 |
| 1950s | 265 |
| 1960s | 618 |
| 1970s | 4,224 |
| 1980s | 36,725 |
| 1990s | 45,909 |
| 2000s | 45,374 |
| 2010s | 12,485 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,832 |
What Jenna means
Jenna has no single agreed meaning. It is most often explained as an extended form of Jenny, itself a pet form of Jennifer, in which case the sense carried through is the Welsh white or fair.
Where Jenna comes from
Jenna appears in the twentieth century as a written-out form of Jenny, which had long been a pet form of Jennifer and before that of Jane. Jennifer descends from the Cornish Jenifer and ultimately the Welsh Gwenhwyfar — gwen, white or fair, with hwyfar, smooth or soft — the name of Arthur's queen. Whether Jenna carries that meaning depends on whether you treat it as a shortening that grew back into a full name or as an independent coinage that simply resembles one. It is also read as an Arabic name, jannah, meaning garden or paradise, which is a separate origin rather than a variant of the same word.
Jenna in use
Jenna ranks 199th in France on 295 births, the only market where it holds a top 200 place. It peaked in the United States in 1985, when 6,454 babies were registered, and now ranks 679th there on 418 births — a fall of more than nine-tenths from its high. It also charts in Scotland at 725th, Ireland at 1033rd and England and Wales at 1154th, across 179,129 lifetime births, and it is falling in our data.
How popular is Jenna?
In 2025, Jenna was given to 418 babies in the United States, ranking #679 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Jenna is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Jenna is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Jénna | Jénna is a rare spelling of Jenna, written with an acute accent and recorded about 35 times, mostly in France. | 35 |
Names that peaked alongside Jenna
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Jenna also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Jenna over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Jenna
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Jenna in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Jenna
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Jenna — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Jenna
What does the name Jenna mean?
There is no agreed meaning. If it is treated as a form of Jenny, it carries the Welsh sense white or fair through Jennifer.
Is Jenna short for Jennifer?
It began that way, through Jenny, but it has been used as a name in its own right for decades.
Is Jenna an Arabic name?
Jannah is a separate Arabic name meaning garden or paradise. It is a different source that happens to sound alike, not a variant.
How popular is Jenna?
199th in France. It ranks 679th in the United States, well down from its 1985 peak.
Is Jenna a girl's or a boy's name?
Jenna is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Jenna?
Jenna has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Jenna?
Jenna is usually shortened to Jen and Jenny.
Is Jenna a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Jenna currently ranks #199 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.