Humanverse

Jenna vs Jennetta

American parents have registered 148,842 Jennas since 1880, against 555 Jennettas. Jenna is still ahead, with 418 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Jenna against Jennetta, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Jenna Jennetta

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 116 years in which either name was published, Jenna for 101 years and Jennetta for 15 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.

Side by side

  Jenna Jennetta
Total US births 148,842555
Most in one year 6,45413
Babies in 2025 418under 5
Estimated living today 146,000320
Median age today 2858
Peak year 19851940
Best rank 50th girls2,297th girls
Rank in 2025 679thunranked
First recorded 19151897
Girls / boys 148,587 / 255555 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Jennettas alive today are over 58; half the Jennas are over 28. That is 30 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Jenna and Jennetta.