Jenny

Meaning: Possibly white phantom
Origin: Welsh — Short form of Jennifer

Meaning: God is gracious
Origin: Hebrew — Diminutive of Jane

Girl's name · #1503 in the US (2025) · Retro

Popularity over time

Jenny's best rank, #108, came in 1977; it has stepped well back to #1503 today. Roughly 92,000 girls have been named Jenny since 1880. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records.

Across the states

See where Jenny is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 15 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

See how Jenny ranks in other countries and regions.

#29 in Norway (2025) · #470 in Ecuador (2025) · #885 in Ireland (2025) · #915 in Italy (2024) · #966 in Canada (2025) · #1,004 in Sweden (2025) · #1,087 in Switzerland (2025) · #2,006 in England & Wales (2025) · #2,017 in France (2025) · #2,705 in Austria (2025) · #749 in Scotland (2023) · #706 in Poland (2021) and 6 more.

Famous Jennys

Jenny Slate — American actress, comedian, and writer (born 1982)
Jenny Lind — Swedish opera singer (1820–1887)
Jenny Shipley — Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1997 to 1999 (born 1952)
Jenny McCarthy — American actress and model (born 1972)
Jenny Agutter — English actress (born 1952)
Jenny Han — American writer (born 1980)
Jenny von Westphalen — German theatre critic and political activist (1814–1881)
Jenny Erpenbeck — German writer and opera director (born 1967)

In stories & tradition

Jenny Greenteeth — Bogeyman
Jenny Humphrey — Gossip Girl (novel series)
Jenny Everywhere — Octobriana (comics)

What Jennys become

Among 1,908 notable people named Jenny:

Entertainers appear 1.8× more often than among typical names — e.g. Jenny Slate, American actress, comedian, and writer (born 1982).

Spellings & nicknames

Together with its spelling variant Jennie (#2309), Jenny would rank around #1092 with about 220 births last year — the newborns split about 64/36 between Jenny and Jennie.

Similar names: Jennie · Bridget · Jhene · Renee · Raquel · Jesse

Browse more girl names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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