Jeneva
A feminine name derived from the French city name Geneva, meaning "juniper berry."
Name Census estimates that about 743 living Americans carry the first name Jeneva. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jeneva today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeneva births was 1926 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeneva. 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
743
~ 1 in 461,311 Americans
Peak year
1926
29 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,272
Tracked since 1905
Census
Jeneva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 876 people with the first name Jeneva, which placed it at #13,689 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
#13,689
National first-name rank
People counted
876
876 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeneva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeneva is White at 46.8%. The next largest groups are Black (28.1%) and Hispanic (15.1%). 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 Jeneva 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 Jeneva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.8% · 410
- Black or African American28.1% · 246
- Hispanic or Latino15.1% · 132
- Two or more races5.0% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 18
Popularity
Jeneva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeneva 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 166 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
Jeneva 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 Jeneva during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jenevas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Jeneva, while New York, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeneva
The name Jeneva has its roots in the ancient Roman culture, originating from the Latin word "Genovefa," which means "woman of the race." This name gained popularity during the early medieval period, particularly in regions that were once part of the Roman Empire.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to Saint Genevieve, the patroness of Paris, who lived in the 5th century AD. Born around 422 AD in Nanterre, near Paris, Saint Genevieve played a crucial role in the defense of the city against the Huns led by Attila. Her bravery and faith inspired many, and she is revered as a symbol of courage and protection.
In the 6th century, a variation of the name, "Jenever," appeared in the Frankish Kingdom, which covered parts of modern-day France, Germany, and the Low Countries. This form of the name was particularly popular among the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Franks from the 5th to the 8th centuries.
Another notable figure bearing the name Jeneva was Jeneva of Brabant, a 13th-century Duchess of Brabant and Countess of Holland. She played a significant role in the political landscape of the Low Countries during her reign from 1212 to 1234.
During the Renaissance period, the name Jeneva gained popularity in Italy, where it was sometimes spelled as "Ginevra." One famous bearer of this name was Ginevra de' Benci, an Italian Renaissance noblewoman who was the subject of a famous portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci around 1474.
In the 17th century, the name Jeneva appeared in England, where it was sometimes anglicized as "Geneva." One notable figure was Lady Geneva Wale, an English courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I, who lived from around 1550 to 1625.
Over the centuries, the name Jeneva has been borne by many other notable individuals, including Jeneva Gordon, a 19th-century American novelist and playwright, and Jeneva A. Stone, an American lawyer and politician who served as the first woman Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the 1950s.
People
Jeneva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeneva 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
Jeneva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeneva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 743 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeneva 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 461,311 US residents.
Is Jeneva a common name?
We classify Jeneva as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,056 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeneva most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeneva was 1926, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeneva is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeneva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 876 people with the name Jeneva, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,689 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 Jeneva 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 Jeneva?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeneva appears almost entirely female. Of the 871 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Jeneva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeneva is White at 46.8%. The next largest groups are Black (28.1%) and Hispanic (15.1%). 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 Jeneva most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jeneva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.8% (410 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 Jeneva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeneva a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jeneva 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 Jeneva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeneva 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 Jeneva 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 common is the name Jeneva?
See how many people share the name Jeneva on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.