Jenine
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "paradise garden".
Name Census estimates that about 1,926 living Americans carry the first name Jenine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jenine today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jenine births was 1970 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jenine. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jenine with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 177,962 Americans
Peak year
1970
87 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,187
Tracked since 1932
Census
Jenine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,114 people with the first name Jenine, which placed it at #7,270 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,270
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,114 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jenine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jenine is White at 64.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (9.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Jenine described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Jenine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.7% · 1,367
- Black or African American17.4% · 368
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 208
- Two or more races3.9% · 83
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 78
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 10
Popularity
Jenine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jenine from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 659 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jenine by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Jenine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jenines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Jenine, while Illinois, Ohio, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 120 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jenine
The name Jenine is a variant of the French feminine name Jeanine, which is derived from the French masculine name Jean. Jean, in turn, is a French form of the Hebrew name Yohanan or Johanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious" or "God is gracious." The name Yohanan was widely used among Jews in ancient times and is found in the Bible, particularly in the Book of Nehemiah.
The origins of the name Jenine can be traced back to the Middle Ages when the French form Jean gained popularity in Europe. During the medieval period, the name Jean was commonly used by both men and women, with Jeanne being the feminine form. Over time, variations of the name emerged, including Jeanine and its variant Jenine.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jenine can be found in historical records from the 16th century, where it was used by a French woman named Jenine de Montfort (1520-1589). Another notable figure with this name was Jenine de Valois (1556-1622), a French noblewoman who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine de' Medici.
In the 17th century, the name Jenine gained some popularity in certain regions of France, particularly in the northern and central parts of the country. During this time, a French poet and writer named Jenine Lefèvre (1630-1698) gained recognition for her works, which included poetry and plays.
Moving into the 18th century, the name Jenine became more widely used across Europe, with notable individuals including Jenine Dupont (1712-1789), a French artist known for her portraits and landscapes. In the 19th century, the name continued to be used, with one example being Jenine Dumas (1812-1890), a French novelist and playwright.
Another notable figure with the name Jenine was Jenine Mercier (1901-1976), a French actress and singer who appeared in several films during the 1930s and 1940s. More recently, in the 20th century, Jenine Bazin (1920-2011) was a French historian and author known for her works on medieval history and literature.
People
Jenine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jenine as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jenine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jenine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,926 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jenine going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 177,962 US residents.
Is Jenine a common name?
We classify Jenine as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,257 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jenine most popular?
The single biggest year for Jenine was 1970, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jenine is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jenine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,114 people with the name Jenine, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,270 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Jenine in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Jenine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jenine appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,113 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Jenine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jenine is White at 64.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (9.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Jenine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jenine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.7% (1,367 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Jenine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jenine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jenine in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Jenine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jenine in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Jenine can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Jenine?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Jenine at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.