Jenette
A diminutive form of Jane or a feminine variant of John.
Name Census estimates that about 1,397 living Americans carry the first name Jenette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jenette today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jenette births was 1982 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jenette. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 245,350 Americans
Peak year
1982
55 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2017 SSA rank
#16,986
Tracked since 1899
Census
Jenette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,878 people with the first name Jenette, which placed it at #7,888 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
#7,888
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,878 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jenette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jenette is White at 59.2%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Hispanic (15.6%). 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 Jenette 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 Jenette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.2% · 1,112
- Black or African American15.8% · 296
- Hispanic or Latino15.6% · 293
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.2% · 97
- Two or more races3.5% · 66
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 14
Popularity
Jenette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jenette from the 1890s through to the 2010s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 392 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
Jenette 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 Jenette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jenettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Jenette, while Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jenette
The name Jenette is a feminine given name derived from the French variant of the Hebrew name Jeannette, which itself is a diminutive form of Jane or Johanna. The name Jane has its origins in the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious." The earliest known records of the name Jenette date back to the 13th century in France.
In medieval France, the name Jenette was particularly popular among the upper classes and nobility. It is believed that this name gained widespread use after Saint Jeanne d'Arc, also known as Joan of Arc (c. 1412-1431), the famous French heroine who led the French army to several victories during the Hundred Years' War against the English.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jenette can be found in the writings of the 13th-century French poet and composer Thibaut de Champagne (c. 1201-1253), who mentioned a lady named Jenette in one of his poems.
In the 16th century, the name Jenette gained popularity in England, where it was often spelled as "Jennet" or "Jennett." One notable figure from this period was Jennet Mundy (c. 1538-1614), an English writer and translator who was involved in the literary circles of her time.
During the 17th century, the name Jenette appeared in various historical records, including the writings of the English playwright and poet Thomas Middleton (c. 1580-1627), who featured a character named Jenette in one of his plays.
Another notable figure with the name Jenette was the French painter Jenette Vallette (c. 1667-1740), who was known for her still-life and genre paintings during the Baroque period.
In the 18th century, the name Jenette gained popularity in Scotland, where it was often spelled as "Jennet" or "Jennett." One notable Scottish figure with this name was Jennet Renwick (c. 1718-1766), a Presbyterian covenanter who was executed for her religious beliefs during the Killing Times.
As the name Jenette spread across different cultures and regions, it evolved into various spellings and variations, such as Janette, Jeanette, and Jennet, among others. However, the core meaning and essence of the name have remained largely unchanged, reflecting its rich historical and cultural heritage.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jenette
People
Jenette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jenette 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
Jenette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jenette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,397 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jenette 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 245,350 US residents.
Is Jenette a common name?
We classify Jenette as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,934 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jenette most popular?
The single biggest year for Jenette was 1982, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jenette is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jenette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,878 people with the name Jenette, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,888 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 Jenette 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 Jenette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jenette appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,881 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Jenette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jenette is White at 59.2%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Hispanic (15.6%). 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 Jenette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jenette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.2% (1,112 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 Jenette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jenette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jenette 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 Jenette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jenette 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 Jenette 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 Jenette?
See how many people share the name Jenette on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.