Find out how popular the last name Jennifer is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Jennifer.

Jennifer, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Jennifer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Jennifer in America

Jennifer is the 65782nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Jennifer surname appeared 301 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Jennifer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Jennifer to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Jennifer

The surname Jennifer has its origins in the ancient Celtic language of Brittonic, which was spoken in parts of what is now England, Wales, and Brittany in France. It is derived from the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar or Gwenhwyvar, which means "white ghost" or "white shadow."

In the medieval period, the name was often spelled as Gwenhwyfer or Guanhumara. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), a 12th-century work by the historian Geoffrey of Monmouth, which mentions a character named Guanhumara, who is portrayed as the wife of King Arthur.

The name subsequently appeared in various forms in other medieval texts and chronicles, such as the Annales Cambriae (Welsh Annals) from the 10th century, which includes the name Gwenhwyar. It was also recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Guenhunara and Guenhunuara.

One of the earliest known individuals with this surname was Gwenhwyfar ferch Cynddrwyn, a Welsh noblewoman who lived in the 12th century. Another notable figure was Gwenhwyfar ferch Gruffydd, a 13th-century Welsh princess who married Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last native Prince of Wales.

In the 15th century, the name was recorded as Jennifer in the English county of Cornwall, where it was likely influenced by the Breton language spoken in nearby Brittany. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this spelling was Jennifer Tregarthyn, who lived in Cornwall in the late 1400s.

Other notable individuals with the surname Jennifer throughout history include Sir John Jennifer (c. 1520-1588), an English politician and landowner in Cornwall; Jennifer Phillipps (c. 1600-1670), a Welsh heiress and landowner; and Jennifer Llewelyn (1758-1832), a Welsh writer and poet.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Jennifer

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Jennifer.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Jennifer was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Jennifer has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Jennifer was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Jennifer, please contact us.

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