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Girl · Hebrew, through English
Jenny
Say it: JEN-ee
Meaning
A medieval pet form of Jane and Janet, feminine forms of John (Hebrew 'God is gracious'); now also used as a short form of Jennifer.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
In use since the Middle Ages as Jennet and Jenny, it was popular as a formal name in the US in the 1970s and 1980s.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1970s
In the United States
- 91,904 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1977, about 1 in 571 girls
- 152 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Jennie, Jeni
Famous bearers
- Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.