unisex name
Jensen
JEN-sen
- Origin Danish
- Gender Unisex
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 26,899
the United States
#282
2025 births
Jensen is a Danish surname meaning son of Jens, now used as a given name for both boys and girls. It charts in all seven markets we track, is at its highest recorded level, and is one of the more genuinely mixed names in the current lists at 11 percent female.
- Jensen is a name of Danish origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 1,288 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,574 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1927.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Jensen over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1920s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1920s | 5 |
| 1930s | 5 |
| 1950s | 13 |
| 1960s | 10 |
| 1970s | 128 |
| 1980s | 460 |
| 1990s | 1,998 |
| 2000s | 2,192 |
| 2010s | 8,364 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 7,093 |
What Jensen means
Jensen means son of Jens. Jens is the Danish contraction of John, so the sense carried down through the patronymic is God is gracious, several removes back from anything the name announces on its surface.
Where Jensen comes from
Jensen is a Danish patronymic surname — Jens with the -sen ending meaning son of — and it is the most common surname in Denmark. Jens itself is the Danish contraction of Johannes, from the Hebrew Yochanan, God is gracious, which makes Jensen a distant relative of Johnson, Ivanov, MacEoin and every other patronymic built on the same name. Its move into given-name use in English-speaking countries is recent and follows the broad surname-as-first-name pattern, helped in the 2000s by actor Jensen Ackles. The patronymic sense is inert in that use: a girl named Jensen is not being called anyone's son.
Jensen in use
Jensen ranks 193rd in Northern Ireland on 11 births, 267th in England and Wales on 170, 282nd in the United States on 1,288, 448th in Scotland, 737th in Ireland and 5739th in France — all seven markets. It peaked in the United States in 2025, when 1,288 babies were registered, the latest year in our data. Around 11 percent of recorded births are female, which puts it among the more genuinely mixed names in the current top 200 lists rather than nominally unisex.
How popular is Jensen?
In 2025, Jensen was given to 1,288 babies in the United States, ranking #282 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Jensen 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.
Names that peaked alongside Jensen
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Jensen also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Jensen over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
3 nicknames for Jensen
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.
Jensen 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 Jensen
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Jensen — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Jensen
What does the name Jensen mean?
Son of Jens. Jens is the Danish form of John, so the deeper sense is God is gracious.
Is Jensen a boy's or a girl's name?
Both. Around 11 percent of recorded births in our data are female.
Is it Jensen or Jenson?
Jensen is the Danish spelling. Jenson is a British variant, more common in England and Wales.
How popular is Jensen?
193rd in Northern Ireland and 282nd in the United States, at its highest recorded level.
How many syllables are in Jensen?
Jensen has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Jensen?
Jensen is usually shortened to Jen, Jens and Jenny.
Is Jensen a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Jensen currently ranks #193 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.