Jenna is a name of Hebrew origin, meaning "God is gracious." It is also associated with the Irish name Siobhan, which has a similar pronunciation and means "god is gracious." The name Jenna was popularized in the English-speaking world by the character Jenna Rink from the movie "13 Going on 30," released in 2004. In the movie, Jenna is a young woman who wishes to be older and more sophisticated, only to wake up as her adult self and realize that being true to oneself is more important than material possessions or age. The name Jenna has since gained popularity among parents looking for unique yet meaningful names for their daughters.
Based on the statistics provided, we can observe several trends regarding the popularity of the name Jenna in the United States over time.
From the early 20th century to the mid-1960s, the number of births with the name Jenna fluctuated between 5 and 68 per year. During this period, Jenna was not a particularly common name, as indicated by the relatively low numbers of births each year.
However, beginning in 1969, we see a significant increase in the popularity of the name Jenna. That year alone, there were 114 births with the name Jenna, marking a substantial jump from the previous years' figures. This trend continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s, reaching a peak in 1985 with 6,436 births.
The popularity of Jenna seemed to be closely tied to the overall trend of baby names in the United States during this time. As naming trends shifted towards more unique and popular options, Jenna emerged as one of the favored choices for parents.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Jenna remained a popular name, with annual birth counts consistently ranging between 3,000 to over 6,000. However, beginning around 2004, we see another decline in popularity for Jenna, similar to the pattern observed at the start of our data set.
By 2010, the number of births with the name Jenna had decreased significantly, with fewer than 3,000 babies named Jenna that year. This downward trend continued into the 2020s, with only 470 births recorded in 2022 and 461 in 2023.
Overall, while Jenna experienced periods of popularity throughout its history, it has never been among the most common names in the United States. Its popularity has fluctuated over time, with peaks occurring around the late 1980s and early 1990s before decreasing again in recent years.