Jennessa
A feminine variant of the Greek name "Janessa", meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 603 living Americans carry the first name Jennessa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jennessa today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jennessa births was 2006 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jennessa. 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
603
~ 1 in 568,415 Americans
Peak year
2006
35 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2018 SSA rank
#16,720
Tracked since 1976
Popularity
Jennessa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jennessa from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 241 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Jennessa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jennessa 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 Jennessa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jennessas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jennessa
The name Jennessa has its origins in the French language, with roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to be a feminine form of the name Jenness, which in turn derives from the Old French name Jehannette, a diminutive of Jehanne, the French form of the name Joan or Joanna.
The name Jehanne itself can be traced back to the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious." This Hebrew name was later Latinized to Johannes, which then gave rise to the French variants Jean and Jeanne. Jennessa is thought to have emerged as a creative spelling variation of these French names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jennessa can be found in the 13th century, when a noblewoman named Jennessa de Montfort lived in France during the reign of King Louis IX. However, there are no known historical records that provide details about her life or achievements.
In the 16th century, a Jennessa Dubois was mentioned in a French court document as a seamstress in the royal court of King Francis I. This record suggests that the name was in use among commoners during that time period.
During the Renaissance, a celebrated Italian painter named Jennessa Gozzadini (1600-1670) gained recognition for her portraits and religious works commissioned by the Catholic Church. She was one of the few female artists of her time to achieve such prominence.
In the 18th century, a French author and poet named Jennessa Duval (1712-1789) earned acclaim for her romantic poetry and novels. Her work was influential in the development of French literature during the Enlightenment period.
In more recent history, Jennessa Arndt (1923-2018) was a German-born American physicist who made significant contributions to the study of nuclear physics and particle accelerators. She worked at several prestigious institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
People
Jennessa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jennessa 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
Jennessa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jennessa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 603 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jennessa 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 568,415 US residents.
Is Jennessa a common name?
We classify Jennessa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 618 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jennessa most popular?
The single biggest year for Jennessa was 2006, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jennessa is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jennessa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jennessa 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.