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 [ 3 syll. jen-ni-fer, je-nnif-er ] The girl name Jennifer is pronounced JHEHNahFer KEY. Jennifer's origin is Old Welsh, and its use, English and German. The name Jennifer is the Cornish form of Guinevere (Old French). The original form is Gwenhwyfar (Old Welsh), a name which gave rise to short forms such as Gaynor and Geunor in Wales after the medieval period. The name spread to England after the 16th century, spawning forms such as Vanora in Scotland, and Jennifer or Jenifer in Cornwall. By the start of the 20th century, interest in the name as a Cornish variant picked up, and it rapidly replaced the original forms. The popularity of the name was first boosted by its appearance as the character Jennifer Dubedat in the George Bernard Shaw play The Doctor's Dilemma (1905). Variant forms of the name include the English Genever, the English Genn, the English Genny, the English Ginnifer, the English and German Jenna, the English Jennifeur, and the English Jeny. Jennifer is a variant form (English and German) of the English and French Guinevere. The short forms Jen (English), Jeni (English), Jenn (English), and Jenni (English), the pet forms Jeffie (English), Jena (English), Jenae (English), Jenne (English), Jenney (English), Jennie (English), and Jenny (English and German), and the spelling variants Genifer (English), Gennifer (English), Gennifur (English), Jeneffer (English), Jenifer (English and German), Jeniffer (English), Jenifre (English), Jenipher (English), Jennafer (English), Jennefer (English), Jenneffer (English), Jenniferr (English), Jenniffer (English), Jennyfer (English and German), and Jenyfer (English) are other forms of Jennifer. See also the related forms, the English Geneva and the English Genevieve. Jennifer is popular as a baby name for girls. The name grew in popularity from the 1930s up to the 1970s; prior to that, it was of only very light use. At the height of its usage in 1974, 4.030% of baby girls were named Jennifer. Its ranking then was #1. The baby name has since experienced a marked drop in frequency. In 2008, it ranked at #84 with a usage of 0.182%, but it was nevertheless the most popular within all girl names in its group. Jennifer was more regularly used than the 2nd most popular name, the English and German Jenna, by 17% in 2008. Jennifer has predominantly been a girl name, although in the past century it has also been used for boys. Girls named Jennifer outnumbered boys by 172 times in 1989. Baby names that sound like Jennifer include the English Jeneffer, the English and German Jenifer, the English Jennafer, the English Jennefer, the English Jenneffer, the English Jennifeur, the English Genifer, the English Gennifer, the English Janevra, the English Jeniffer, the English Jenipher, the English Jenniffer, the English and German Jennyfer, the English Jenyfer, the English Juniper, the English Genever, the Italian Genevra, the Italian Ginevra, the English Ginnifer, and the English Jenifre. Details of famous persons named Jennifer: KEY: Pronunciation for Jennifer: JH as in "gee (JH.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; F as in "fee (F.IY)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)"   |
