Jen
A feminine name of English origin representing a diminutive form of Jennifer.
Name Census estimates that about 325 living Americans carry the first name Jen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Jen today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jen births was 2010 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jen. 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 Jen with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Jen was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
325
~ 1 in 1,054,629 Americans
Peak year
2010
17 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2015 SSA rank
#6,122
Tracked since 1922
Census
Jen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 16,427 people with the first name Jen, which placed it at #1,807 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
#1,807
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
16,427 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jen is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Jen 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 Jen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.4% · 12,710
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.9% · 1,457
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 1,291
- Black or African American3.0% · 497
- Two or more races2.4% · 394
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 78
Gender
Gender distribution for Jen
Jen is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 404 total registrations, 86 (21.3%) were male and 318 (78.7%) were female.
Jen as a male name
- Ranked #6,122 in 2015
- 14 male births in 2015
- Peak: 2010 (17 births)
Jen as a female name
- Ranked #18,552 in 2009
- 5 female births in 2009
- Peak: 1959 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jen leans strongly female. 15,864 people counted with this name were female (96.5%), compared with 567 male bearers (3.5%).
Popularity
Jen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jen from the 1920s through to the 2010s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Jen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jen 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 Jen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jen
The name Jen is a diminutive form of the English name Jennifer, which is derived from the Cornish name Gwenhwyfar. This name ultimately traces its roots back to the Welsh words "gwen" meaning fair or white, and "hwyfar" meaning smooth or soft. The name Jen emerged as a shortened form of Jennifer in the 20th century.
While the name Jennifer has been recorded in England since the 16th century, the earliest recorded instance of the name Jen dates back to the late 19th century. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Jen was Jen Hartley, a British actress born in 1890.
Historically, the name Jen has been relatively uncommon, but it gained popularity in the mid-20th century, particularly in English-speaking countries. One notable bearer of the name was Jen Jones, a Welsh actress born in 1919, who appeared in several films and television shows during the 1940s and 1950s.
In ancient literature, the name Jen is not widely documented, as it is a modern diminutive form. However, the related name Jennifer can be found in some medieval Welsh literature and poetry, reflecting its Celtic origins.
Another famous Jen was Jen Lewin, an American artist and sculptor born in 1963, known for her interactive light installations. Jen Sincero, an American writer and motivational speaker born in 1972, is also a notable bearer of the name.
In the field of sports, Jen Capriati, an American tennis player born in 1976, achieved significant success, winning three Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal. Jen Welter, born in 1977, made history as the first woman to hold a coaching position in the National Football League (NFL) when she was hired by the Arizona Cardinals in 2015.
While the name Jen has been relatively uncommon throughout history, it has gained popularity in recent decades as a shortened form of Jennifer. It has been embraced across various cultures and has been associated with notable individuals in various fields, including entertainment, arts, sports, and literature.
People
Jen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jen 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
Jen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 325 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jen 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 1,054,629 US residents.
Is Jen a common name?
We classify Jen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 404 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jen most popular?
The single biggest year for Jen was 2010, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jen is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 16,427 people with the name Jen, or 5.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,807 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 Jen 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 Jen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jen leans strongly female. 15,864 people counted with this name were female (96.5%), compared with 567 male bearers (3.5%). 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 Jen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jen is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Jen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.4% (12,710 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 Jen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jen a female name?
Yes, 78.7% of people registered as Jen 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 Jen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jen 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 Jen 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 people have the name Jen?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Jen on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.