The Baby Name Wizard

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Comments and insights on the name Jennifer: | Edit

This is my best friend's name and when we were little, while all the other girls with the same name as her were going by Jenn, Jen, or Jenny, she just went by Jennifer which made her a little more unique because all the other 'Jennifers' we knew didn't go by their full name.

For more stories about women with the name "Jennifer," please visit The Jennifer Project blog: http://thejenniferproject.blogspot.com. You can share your story there, too! Thanks! -- Jennifer K

When you are a 'Jennifer' you will always be known by your first and last name, never just 'Jennifer'.

This isn't so true anymore, maybe if you were growing up ten or twenty years ago.

My father claims that just before I was born (NYC, 1968), there was a television commercial for Reingold beer that showed a young couple rowing in Central Park, drinking a Rheingold and trying to come up with a name for their new baby. The name they agree upon is Jennifer. My father believes this is the reason for the sudden spike in baby girls named "Jennifer" in the New York area in 1968. Has anyone else heard this story?

I was born in May of 1973, my mother told me that the movie "Love Story" with Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal had come out in Dec 1970 - and that is why so many girls of that era are named Jennifer. Pretty popular, tissue box movie...women loved it. - Jennifer C

My mother got my name from "Love Story" too! - Jennifer H

There was also a popular song by Donovan, "Jennifer Juniper", which came out in 1967, not too long before "Love Story".

I was born in 1972. My parents thought that I was going to be a boy so did not have a girl's name picked out. A day or so after I was born my dad saw a Gerber commercial with a little girl named Jenny Rebecca, so I was named Jennifer Rebecca. I have always known lots of other Jennifers around my age.

I was born as Jennifer in 1966 and have generally been the oldest Jennifer in the crowd. Most seem to be a few years younger coinciding with the popularity of Love Story. My parents feel they THOUGHT they were being unique... I have a sister Jessica who is also a few years older than the "explosion" of Jessicas in the '80's. Oh well for uniqueness.

My dad wanted to name me Barbara Jean- thank GOD my mom won that battle! I go by Jenn (was called Jenny growing up- gag!) but Jennifer's fine too- seems like a mouthful for most people though.

There were two Jennifers on my block growing up and I got to be "Big Jen" because I was the oldest. When I was a sophomore in high school one of the neighborhood kids was a freshman. Excited to see someone she knew on her first day she screamed across the quad at me: "Hi Big Jen!" My sophomore cool self just about died of embarrassment.

I was born in 1969 and the musical Camelot had been very popular that decade. My mother wanted to name me Guinevere but decided Jennifer was more modern. I went by Jenni in high school and now mostly by Jen. I like having a flexible name.

I was born in 1990 and I've always known AT LEAST 3 other Jennifers all of whom went by Jen, Jenn, or Jenny. Don't get me wrong I love being "Jen" but its kind of annoying when everyone else is too, and its really hard to outgrow Jenny which starts to sound really juvenile in college.

Personal experiences with the name Jennifer: | Edit

When I went to the public library growing up, if I forgot my card, I could tell the librarian that I was the seventh Jennifer on their computer screen with my last name.

Every Jennifer I met growing up was nasty, so it really put me off the name. (Sorry to all you nice ones out there!)

I've met only one nasty Jennifer, and I've met plenty of Jennifers!

In my grade school class of 24 kids, 5 were named Jennifer. For our kids, it will probably be a name that sounds like someone's mom.

I was born in 1964 and was named Jennifer. My mother loved the name but my father hated it and never called me by my name. All through school (elementary and high school) there were always a lot of Jennifers in my classes. Even after going out into the working world, there has always been AT LEAST one other Jennifer in my office. One office I worked in there were three of us so we had to go by Jenny, Jen and Jenn. When I had my daughter I named her Alexandra since we loved the name and didn't hear it too often. There has hardly been any other Alexandras in her schools but there have been several Alexanders.

I was born in 1981, and while the name was still popular, there were never any other Jennifers in my classes- I think I made it to college before finding another and even then, there weren't many of us. Ironically, at my last job, there were 3 Jennifers and we all sat w/in 8 feet of one another. One was Jennifer, one Jen, and one Jenn (me). Got a little crazy when someone would call out for us- we'd all turn and look.

I was named Jennifer in 1984 and when I was a senior in high school there were 6 other people that shared my name. In one class. Including the teacher!

Directly following the above note, my daughter is named Jennifer (born 2001). The irony with her name began with the fact that I wanted her to have a mainstream name. I detest parents that feel they must give their child a name that makes them stand out and be original. First, children want nothing more than to fit in. Second, a child should stand out based upon character, not their name. The irony here is that in her school, there were no other Jennifers in the second grade, and I have yet to meet one at all in the primary school. So the names like Tenley and Caitlan are common place and Jennifer is the unique one.

My sister is called Jennifer, she prefers Jen. Sometimes our family call her Jennifart- Ha!

Nicknames for Jennifer: | Edit

Jen
Jenny
Jenna
Jennie
Jenn
Yen Yen
Jen-nay
J-Lo
Jenni
Gigi

Meanings and history of the name Jennifer: | Edit

Jennifer joined the USA top 1000 names in 1938. It rose until in 1970 it was the #1 name in USA, it held that place until 1985 and has been in decline ever since. In 2006 it was the 51st most popular name in America.

White; fair-skinned; smooth (Cornish, Welsh).

Famous real-life people named Jennifer: | Edit

Jennifer Aniston, actress
Jennifer Lopez, entertainer
Jennifer Jason Leigh, actress
Jennifer Garner, actress
Jennifer Hudson, singer, Oscar-winning actress and ex-American Idol contestant
Jennifer Jones, Oscar-winning actress of classic Hollywood (Jennifer Jones was her stage name)
Jennifer Connelly, actress
Jennifer Holliday, singer, actress
Jennifer Love Hewitt, actress
Ginnifer Goodwin, actress, co-star of "Big Love"
Jennifer O'Neill, actress, "Summer of '42"
Jennifer Ehle, actress, "Pride & Prejudice" mini-series (Lizzie Bennett)
Jennifer Duggar, one of the children on the TV series "18 Kids and Counting"

Jennifer in song, story & screen: | Edit

Jennifer Cavilleri, female lead role in "Love Story"
Jenny from Forrest Gump
"Jenny Brown" 1964 song by the Smothers Brothers
"Jenny Take a Ride" 1965 song Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels
"Jenny Rebecca" -song covered by Barbra Streisand, Olivia Newton-John and others
Jennifer Joy (and Zachary Zugg), song from "Free to Be You and Me"
867-5309 (Jenny) -- Tommy Tutone's Catchy 1980s hit song
"Jennifer Juniper" - Donovan 1968
"Jennifer Eccles" -- The Holllies (released about the same time as Donovan's hit in '68 but less well known)
"Waltz for Jennifer" -- FFH (CCM group)2003
"Jenny from the Block" J-Lo
"27 Jennifers" - Mike Doughty (song begins: "I went to school with 27 Jennifers"
"Jennifer Fever -- Older Men, Younger Women", 1988 book by Barbara Gordon on the menace of pretty young women. Grouped here under the name "Jennifer," they are the ones for whom older men leave their wives, the "Janets."
"Portrait of Jennie" 1948 tearjerker/fantasy with Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten
"Jennifer's Rabbit" -- Tom Paxton
Jennifer Walters, real name of She-Hulk in Marvel comics