Jenna
A feminine name of English origin possibly derived from Jane.
Name Census estimates that about 143,207 living Americans carry the first name Jenna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jenna today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jenna births was 1985 (6,454 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jenna. 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 Jenna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jenna is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 256 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
143K
~ 1 in 2,393 Americans
Peak year
1985
6,454 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2006 SSA rank
#683
Tracked since 1915
Census
Jenna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 140,774 people with the first name Jenna, which placed it at #401 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
#401
National first-name rank
People counted
141K
140,774 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
46.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jenna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jenna is White at 85.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.8%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Jenna 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 Jenna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.4% · 120,257
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 8,205
- Two or more races3.7% · 5,200
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 4,241
- Black or African American1.6% · 2,194
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 677
Gender
Gender distribution for Jenna
Out of the 148,419 babies given the name Jenna since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jenna as a male name
- Ranked #9,091 in 2006
- 8 male births in 2006
- Peak: 2004 (27 births)
Jenna as a female name
- Ranked #683 in 2024
- 416 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (6,436 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jenna appears almost entirely female. Of the 140,773 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jenna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jenna from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 45,907 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jenna 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 Jenna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jennas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Jenna, while District of Columbia, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,863 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jenna
The name Jenna has its roots in the ancient Hebrew language, originating from the name Yochanan, which means "God is gracious" or "Yahweh is merciful." The earliest recorded use of this name dates back to biblical times, as it appears in the Old Testament as a masculine name.
In the Middle Ages, the name Jenna emerged as a feminine variant of the name John, which was derived from the Hebrew Yochanan. The name gained popularity in Europe, particularly in England and Scotland, where it was often spelled as Jennet or Jennet.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jenna can be found in the Scottish clan records from the 15th century, where it was used as a feminine form of John. The name was also popular in medieval England, where it was sometimes spelled as Jennett or Jennette.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Jenna. One such person was Jenna of Angers (c. 1080 - c. 1135), a French noblewoman and patron of the arts, who played a significant role in the development of Romanesque architecture in the region.
Another notable bearer of the name was Jenna of Sempringham (c. 1182 - 1246), an English nun and the founder of the Sempringham Order, a religious order that combined both monks and nuns under the same rule.
In the 16th century, Jenna Sibbald (c. 1560 - 1624) was a Scottish writer and poet, known for her works celebrating the beauty of nature and the Scottish landscape.
In the 19th century, Jenna Renaud (1822 - 1892) was a French writer and journalist who advocated for women's rights and education. She was a pioneering figure in the early feminist movement in France.
More recently, Jenna Talackova (born 1988) is a Canadian model and television personality, who gained international recognition for her fight against discrimination in beauty pageants based on gender identity.
While the name Jenna has evolved over centuries and gained popularity in various cultures, it remains closely tied to its Hebrew roots, carrying the meaning of grace, mercy, and divine favor.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jenna
People
Jenna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jenna 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
Jenna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jenna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 143,207 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jenna 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 2,393 US residents.
Is Jenna a common name?
We classify Jenna as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 148,419 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jenna most popular?
The single biggest year for Jenna was 1985, when 6,454 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jenna is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jenna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 140,774 people with the name Jenna, or 46.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #401 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 Jenna 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 Jenna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jenna appears almost entirely female. Of the 140,773 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Jenna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jenna is White at 85.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.8%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Jenna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jenna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.4% (120,257 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 Jenna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jenna a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Jenna 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 Jenna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jenna 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 Jenna 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 Jenna?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.