Jenney
A feminine English name derived from Jane, itself derived from John.
Name Census estimates that about 416 living Americans carry the first name Jenney. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jenney today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jenney births was 1979 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jenney. 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
416
~ 1 in 823,929 Americans
Peak year
1979
25 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2007 SSA rank
#14,567
Tracked since 1909
Popularity
Jenney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jenney from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 165 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
Jenney 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 Jenney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jenneys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jenney
The name Jenney has its origins in the medieval English variant of the name Jennifer, which was derived from the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar. Gwenhwyfar is composed of the Welsh elements "gwen" meaning fair or white, and "hwyfar" meaning smooth or soft.
The name Jenney emerged in the late 12th century as a diminutive form of Jennifer, likely first used in parts of England and Wales with strong Celtic cultural influences. It was a name often given to young girls, conveying a sense of innocence and beauty.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jenney can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire from 1197, where a woman named Jenney de Bray is mentioned. This suggests the name was in use among the upper classes in medieval England.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Jenney Fermor (c.1300-1368) was a wealthy landowner and benefactor from Oxfordshire. She is known for endowing scholarships at Oxford University and contributing funds for the construction of churches.
Another historical figure was Jenney Lind (1820-1887), a Swedish opera singer renowned as the "Swedish Nightingale". She was one of the most celebrated sopranos of the 19th century and performed extensively across Europe and America.
In literature, the name appears in works such as the medieval romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", where a character named Jenney is mentioned. The name also features in the 16th-century play "The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare.
Other notable figures with the name Jenney include Jenney Batten (1784-1857), an English painter known for her portraits and landscapes, and Jenney Lind Goldschmidt (1873-1944), a Danish-American sculptor who created works depicting Native American subjects.
People
Jenney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jenney 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
Jenney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jenney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 416 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jenney 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 823,929 US residents.
Is Jenney a common name?
We classify Jenney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 509 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jenney most popular?
The single biggest year for Jenney was 1979, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jenney is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jenney a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jenney 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.