Humanverse

Jenna vs Jenney

American parents have registered 148,842 Jennas since 1880, against 509 Jenneys. Jenna is still ahead, with 418 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Jenna Jenney

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 111 years in which either name was published, Jenna for 108 years and Jenney for 3 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Jenna Jenney
Total US births 148,842509
Most in one year 6,45425
Babies in 2025 418under 5
Estimated living today 146,000440
Median age today 2847
Peak year 19851979
Best rank 50th girls3,236th girls
Rank in 2025 679thunranked
First recorded 19151909
Girls / boys 148,587 / 255509 / 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 Jenneys alive today are over 47; half the Jennas are over 28. That is 19 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 Jenney.