Jena
A feminine name of German origin meaning "Giver of life".
Name Census estimates that about 12,265 living Americans carry the first name Jena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jena today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jena births was 1986 (619 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jena. 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.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 27,946 Americans
Peak year
1986
619 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1988 SSA rank
#6,067
Tracked since 1900
Gender
Gender distribution for Jena
Out of the 13,224 babies given the name Jena since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Jena as a male name
- Ranked #6,067 in 1988
- 7 male births in 1988
- Peak: 1988 (7 births)
Jena as a female name
- Ranked #6,749 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1986 (619 births)
Popularity
Jena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jena from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 4,082 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jena 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 Jena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jenas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Jena, while Alaska, Wyoming, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 211 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jena
The name Jena has its origins in various languages and cultures, with different possible meanings and etymologies. One interpretation suggests that it is derived from the ancient Greek name "Gena," which means "born" or "descended from." This name was used in ancient Greece and has ties to Greek mythology.
Another theory traces the name's roots to the Sanskrit word "jna," meaning "knowledge" or "enlightenment." This connection links Jena to the spiritual and philosophical traditions of ancient India, where names often carried deep symbolic significance.
In the Slavic languages, such as Russian and Czech, the name Jena is a diminutive form of the name "Yevgeniya," which itself is derived from the Greek name "Eugenia," meaning "well-born" or "noble." This suggests that the name Jena may have been associated with aristocratic or upper-class families in Slavic cultures.
Historically, the name Jena has been recorded in various forms across different cultures and time periods. In ancient Roman texts, there are mentions of individuals named "Gena" or "Genasius," which may be related to the Greek root of the name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Jena was Jena of Semendria, a 14th-century Serbian princess and the wife of the Serbian ruler Stefan Uroš V. Her name is sometimes spelled as "Jerina" or "Yevgenia" in historical records.
In the realm of literature, Jena Austen (1775-1817) was a famous English novelist known for her works such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility." Although her first name is spelled differently, it is believed to be a variation of the name Jena.
During the 19th century, Jena Sibelius (1865-1957) was a Finnish composer and violinist who made significant contributions to the development of Finnish national music. His compositions, such as the "Finlandia" symphony, are widely celebrated.
In the field of science, Jena Curie (1867-1934) was a pioneering physicist and chemist who conducted groundbreaking research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice.
Another notable figure with the name Jena was Jena Krupskaya (1869-1939), a Russian revolutionary and the wife of Vladimir Lenin. She played a significant role in the Bolshevik movement and contributed to the development of the Soviet education system.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jena
People
Jena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jena 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
Jena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,265 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jena 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 27,946 US residents.
Is Jena a common name?
We classify Jena as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,224 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jena most popular?
The single biggest year for Jena was 1986, when 619 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jena is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jena a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Jena 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.
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.