Baby Names Trend: The Jennifer Juggernaut

I have never understood why Jennifer got so popular. I absolutely do not like it at all. I do love the similar Genevieve though.

The naming pool is simply too large now for another Juggernaut of a name to come through and sweep everyone away!

Jennifer is a beautiful name if you get past how dated it is. it will take a while, but i think it could come back in the future.

Jennifer is a nice name, but I think Guinevere is absolutely incredible.

I think it will be a while, but it will make a comeback.

We had so many Jennifers, we came up with descriptive nicknames for them, most of which were unflattering. We had a “Redheaded Jennifer”, a “Bucktooth Jennifer”, a “Fat Jennifer”, a “Horseface Jennifer”. Not good. It’s going to be the same way with all of the Aidens and Jaydens and Avas.

I elect Harper and Archer.

I’ve said it before in various threads–Jennifer is a great name. (Note, I am a Jennifer.) It’s got a lovely, rich history (Gwenfrewi; Gwenhwyvar/Guinevere), AND it has a unique combination of consonant sounds–the /J/, /N/, /F/, and /R/combination is a very interesting one. If it hadn’t been super-popular in the past few decades, it would definitely be one of the names we discussed on Nameberry. Most of the hate I hear about it is basically that it was just too popular for too long, anyway. That’s hardly a legitimate criticism of the name itself, just the overabundance of it.

Also, I never had a problem with people using unflattering terms to designate me or my peers; we usually went by Jennifer M. or Jen, Jenni, or Jennifer. I knew one who went by Fer.

I would love to see the name revived in a generation or two down the road.

I absolutely think Jennifer will make a comeback one day. I’m thinking it will be the 100 year rule in full effect. It’s a beautiful name and people are still finding fresh replacements for this over-used name. Genevieve and Juniper, for example.

Jacob…it’s nearly there with longevity!

There were 3 Jennifer’s in my first grade class. They all had the same last initial…

I don’t think another Jennifer will ever come by swarm, at least not in the next few decades. If you look at the SSA data for 1975, 58,000 girls were named Jennifer. In 2011, only 21,000 girls were named Sophia and 20,000 boys were named Jacob.
Also, in the middle of the 70s, there were almost 4 Jennifers in every hundred girls. (Math geeks can simplify it to 1 in 25)
Today, there is barely one Sophia in every hundred.

Today, the naming pool is much wider. Words, nature, gems, Hashtag… Anything goes. Misspellings are more common and more accepted. This is seen by looking at the percentages.

If I just focus on the sound of the name and strip away the associations, I really love the name Jennifer. It’s actually very pretty.

I don’t think Jennifer ever became incredibly popular here in England. So the whole Jennifer craze concerning everyone being called Jennifer doesn’t come to mind for me. However it does feel very 80s! But I only know one Jennifer! The rest of my family don’t know any Jennifers. I think the name is really quite pretty and will eventually come back into fashion, when the name begins to feel fresh again.

I’m a Jennifer that has gone through every variation of the name until I found one that fit. I was also born at the tail end of the trend and I’ve always disliked my name. In fact, it’s the reason I became a name nerd, so I guess it wasn’t all bad.

I personally hope there isn’t another phenomenon like it. At this point, it’s less of a name and more of a “Well, what else can I call you because I know 14 others?” Kids should be able to be known by their first name, not first name last initial or first name with an “i.”

I’ve always found the name clunky with the J N F R sounds together. I’ve never understood it being described as delicate or beautiful. I absolutely think it will come back, and agree with the above, that it will likely be the 100 year rule. It was obviously popular for a reason, and I would think that will hold true again, when it sounds fresher to another generation.

I always lumped together all of the Christina/Christine/Christen/Christa and their variations (“I” or “y” instead of an “e”), along with all of the variations that start with “K”. I know a ton of women with basically the same, all spelled just a little differently.

At least Jennifer, generally, only has one widely accepted spelling.

Oh, I forgot Christy and Chrystal in my variations on a theme of Christina.

There may not be another “Jennifer” but we do have trends. There are the preppy er, ly, and an/en ending names for boys and the unisex/nature names for girls. Notice how all the celebrity names are starting to look the same? The Beckams are a great example of these trends. Other examples are celebrity twins such as Monroe and Moroccan and twin daughters, Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge.

To be honest, I only know one Jennifer. I do know a whole bunch of Jenny/Ginnys and five or six Jessicas, but only the on Jennifer.
I do think it a plesant sounding name however, it must be its conection to Genevieve/Guinevere but it has a romantic and fairytale air to it. I think it could come back, as others said before, with the hundred year rule.

I think Sophia could do it. Lots of baby Sophias where I live!

Jennifer will definitely make a comeback once the big wave of Jennifers are grandmothers and great-grandmothers, although it might be used more often in the middle spot to honour these family members. I think it’s a lovely name but hey, I like Jason, too.

A similar thing happened in France around the same time as the Jennifer phenomenon, but with the name Sylvie. Sylvie seems to be catching on slowly in the English-speaking world, but it definitely won’t be ready for a comeback in francophone countries for some time yet. I don’t see another name reaching the lofty heights Jennifer or Sylvie did nowadays – as has been mentioned, there are just too many names circulating now compared to fifty years ago, and the desire to be different rather than to conform is so steeped into our culture now (although of course there are still strong trends, just not as strong as before).

Names I want to see getting more popular that are similar to Jennifer:
Juniper
Genevieve
Gwendolyn
Guinevere
Junia/Juno

I used to have a great dislike for the name Jennifer, the ‘iffer’ part was just very unappealing to me, and the only people who held the name that I knew of were the older Jennifers of Hollywood and a bothersome girl in my grade.

In that way, I that Jennifer Lawrence has placed her name in a more favorable light, and I wouldn’t be surprised if her beauty and talent caused a bunch more baby girls to be given her name. I don’t think it’ll ever be so popular again, or that any other name will ever rival it (far too many names are used today for that).

Great article!

Argh, I’ve known way too many Jennifers. I have three cousins named Jennifer. I know a guy whose sister is named Jennifer and he also dates a Jennifer, and his lesbian ex-wife is dating a Jennifer, too. How is that not confusing for them? I guess when in doubt any lady between 30-25 is probably a Jennifer, lol.

In three or four generations it might come back. Grandma and Great-Grandma will be Jennifer’s then, and a few girls might carry the name. But I don’t think it will be as popular. I think media, movies, books, songs influence names more than ancestry.

Personally, I think Guinevere looks and sounds much more feminine than Jennifer. If you say Jennifer slowly several times, it sounds almost like a boy name, like Eugene or Carter.

Very interesting. When I initially saw your link, I thought of “Love Story” and how influential it was, and wondered if you would be mentioning it. I also like how you attribute Jennifer’s popularity to Jennifer Jones, who is largely forgotten by today’s generation. I was recently watching an episode of The Waltons where Olivia and John Walton take in a foster baby – named, you guessed it, Jennifer. The 70s show was supposed to be set in the Great Depression, when I believe Jennifer would have been a little too early… haha.

As for today’s “Jennifer” I think Sophia and Ava are both the equivalents.

My grandmothers name is Jennifer. I would love to honour her someday but Jennifer feels way to dated for me. I think I would go with Guinevere.

I would really really like to meet a little child named Jenson or Jensen named in honor of a Jennifer. The fact that the name was #200 in 1945 baffles me. I have never met a senior citizen named Jennifer! Jenna is exceedingly popular, but I prefer Gemma. I might get shunned from nameberry if I admit how much I dislike Guinevere or any name beginning with the “gw” sound (it’s like nails on a chalkboard, I literally shudder).

A few thoughts: First, where is Jessica (Yesica)found in the Old Testament (you’ve also stated this in one or more of your books, and I’ve been meaning to write)? I’ve been reading through the Bible annually for a number of years, and don’t recall seeing a a Hebrew variation of Jessica. I thought it was a name invented by Shakespeare, appearing in Merchant of Venice. Second, I’ve often wondered if Donovan’s Jennifer Juniper contributed to Jennifer’s meteoric rise. Jennifer also fits the names beginning with “J” trend for boys and girls born in the late 60′s and early 70′s. Being a mom’s name currently, it probably will not regain popularity any time soon, but wasn’t it still fashionable recently in California? I can see the vintage Jennie or Jenny being given popularly on its own nowadays, or as a familiar form of the recently resurrected Jane. Jennifer was my favorite name decades ago, and I never thought it would sound mundane. But like most every mega-popular name, its star, too, has dimmed.

I recall that the Fonzie character on Happy Days dreamt aloud one day that if he had a baby girl, he’d name her Jennifer. I remember thinking at the time that his affection for Jennifer was too premature. But, now that I’ve read your blog, I see that he wasn’t too far off the mark. I doubt the writers of Happy Days knew that Jennifer would be #200 by 1945, though. I’ve always disliked when the writers of sitcoms or soaps take currently fashionable names for children and apply them to adult characters like Grace in Will & Grace, or give names to children that are unfashionable, such as Donna Jo, 1950s style combo-name, in Full House. The Grace character had Jewish roots, which also made Grace unlikely.

There was a movie called Love Story where the heroine was named Jennifer.
Also my cousin is named Jennifer and may I wish to name a baby after her.

I’ve been telling friends for years that it is safe to name their baby Emily or Sophia or Isabella because if you look at he numbers they are no where near as popular as Jennifer was. It is nice to read this article saying exactly what I already knew.

That said, I always thought Jennifer was a beautiful name and all the popular and socially successful girls were Jennifer’s. so I always associated the name with popularity.

I am a Jennifer, and I have loathed my name since Kindergarten. In a tiny graduating class of 65, there were 12 of us. I don’t consider my name a name, I consider it a label.

In reply to my first comment: After a little research, I discovered that Jessica is possibly derived from Iscah (Genesis 11). Interesting.

I agree that Jennifer uniquely signified an entire generation, and we might never see another like it. Jennifer came on the scene when society was undergoing a radical shift. Jennifer was the Pepsi generation. The name shouted from the heights, “I am cool, and there is no other.” I think society would have to again experience a cataclysmic pendulous swing, and a name would have to simultaneously burst onto the scene that embodies that shift in order to achieve the status Jennifer held.

My sister is a Jennifer. She thinks her name is groan-worthy. It’ll never be on my top 100, but I don’t despise it. (Mind you, I didn’t have to grow up with it.) Her middle name is Eve, though, which I adore.

As a Jennifer myself, I hope there is never another like it. It was not fun growing up as one of many, many Jennifers. From pre-K on up through high school, every best friend I ever had was also named Jennifer. I became Tall Jen or Jersey Jen. I WISH my parents had thought a bit harder before naming me the same thing as every other girl in the nursery.

Over here in England, our popular names are a little different from the US…although films (movies) do have an influence.
For the last 15 years or so we have been engulfed in a tsunami of names ending in -y or -ie (and not just for girls). Individually, they are each very pretty – although some of the boys names can seem a bit infantile for a grown man – but there are just too many of them!

For example, in our sports club we have 64 out of 120:
Abi, Annie, Amy, Becky(4), Betty, Carly, Cassie, Clarrie, Darcy, Daisy, Ellie(2),Elsie, Esmie, Evie, Ginny, Hattie (2) from Harriet), Heidi, Holly, Izzy(3), Katie(2), Lexie, Libby(2), Livvy (from Olivia), Lucy, Maddie, Maisie, Millie, Molly, Poppy, Rosie, Ruby, Sophie(2), Tilly, Zoë
Alfie, Archie, Bailey, Billy, Charlie, Denny, Eddie, Frankie, Harry(5), Henry, Jamie, Ollie, Riley, Stanley, Toby, Tommy