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Name Dilemma

Jennifer

The name Jennifer peaked for boys at #530 in 1973. Jennifer is also used for girls, ranking #586 in 2025.

The name Jennifer is a girl's name of Cornish origin meaning "white shadow, white wave".

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Jennifer is the Cornish variation of Guinevere, which ultimately derived from the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar. As such, it is connected to the queen of Arthurian legend, and sharees the same meaning of "white shadow", "white wave", or "white phantom".
 
It has been in use in the English-speaking world since the 18th century but came to prominence in the 20th, after playwright George Bernard Shaw chose Jennifer for the name of his leading lady in his play The Doctor's Dilemma in 1906. It took a little more time to catch on in the US, but by the 1940s it was on the up and remained so until its heyday in the 70s.
 
But how did this Cornish name, originally used only among Cornish immigrants to the US, become such a star? One possibility is that parents were inspired by its similarity of other longstanding popular choices, such as Janet, Jane, Jenny, Jean, and Josephine, but another factor is pop culture. It was likely propelled on by actress Jennifer Jones and the use of the name in a variety of films, including I Married A Witch (1942), Portrait of Jennie (1948), Jennifer (1953), and Valley of the Dolls ( (1967). The songs Jenny Rebecca, Jennifer Eccles and Jennifer "Juniper" might also have got the name in people's heads. 
 
Jennifer became the girl top name of the 1970s in the US, when there were close to 800,000 Jennifers born, meaning 3.5% of girls born were called Jennifer. To put it in perspective, the second most popular name of the decade, Amy, was given to 1.6% of girls in the same time period, while 90s favorites Ashley and Jessica were chosen for 1.5% in they own heyday.
 
Jennifer began to really fall back down the charts in the 2000s and by 2010 it was out of the Top 100. Currently, it sits just outside the Top 500 in the US and just within it in the UK. 
 
While Jennifer might be out of style then (and perhaps even slightly unexpected these days), a number of names with similar sounds have taken over. These include Genevieve, Imogen, Josephine, and Genesis, while the more modern Cornish fave is probably Elowen (or Elowyn).

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The name Jennifer is currently ranked #586 in U.S. births. and peaked for girls at #1 in 1982. The name is most popular in Alaska, California, and California. Jennifer is occasionally used for boys in 2016.

Year	US rank	Births	Per million
2014	—	0	0
2015	—	0	0
2016	—	0	0
2017	—	0	0
2018	—	0	0
2019	—	0	0
2020	—	0	0
2021	—	0	0
2022	—	0	0
2023	—	0	0
2024	—	0	0
2025	—	0	0

Jennifer

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