Jenna - Meaning of Jenna

What does Jenna mean?

[ 2 syll. jen-na, je-nna ] The baby girl name Jenna is pronounced JHEHN-aa- †.

1: Jenna's language of origin is Hebrew and it is predominantly used in the English language. The name developed as a variant of Jenny with the Latinate feminine suffix '-a'. It was first adopted in the late 20th century, popularized by a character bearing the name in the popular US TV soap opera Dallas (1978-1991). It is often used as a prefix in creating new names.

Jenna has 13 forms. Forms include Janah, Jena, Jenae, Jenaya, Jennae, Jennah, Jennalee, Jennat, Jennay, Jennaya, and Jinna. The diminutive form Jenny (used in German too), and the variant spelling Genna are other English forms.

Variant forms inherit the origin and thus the meaning of the name Jenna.

2: Jenna's origin is African-Mende. The meaning here is a small bird.

In addition, Jenna is an English and German diminutive form of the Czech, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, German, Hungarian, and Scandinavian Johanna and an English and German form of the English Jane.

Jenna is also an English contraction of the English and German Jennifer.

Jenna is also an English form of the English and German Jenny.

See also the related forms, Jennabel, Jennalyn, Jennanne, and Jennarae.

See also the related categories, english, hebrew, suffix, prefix, mende, opera, and bird.

Jenna is fairly popular as a baby name for girls. The name jumped in popularity from the 1970s up to the 1980s; prior to that, it was of irregular use only. At the modest peak of its usage in 1985, 0.349% of baby girls were given the name Jenna. It ranked at #50 then. The baby name has since declined in popularity. In 2018, its usage was 0.040% and its ranking #423, but it was nonetheless the 3rd most popular after Jane and Jennifer, out of all girl names in its group. In 2018, Jane was used 53% more than Jenna.

Baby names that sound like Jenna include Jena, Jachan, Jachane, Jachann, Jachanne, Jacksen, Jacksin, Jackson, Jacqueine, Jacquine, Jacson, Jahan, Jahane, Jahanne, Jaimee, Jaimie, Jaina, Jainee, Jakim, and Jakime.

† English pronunciation for Jenna: JH as in "joy (JH.OY)" ; EH as in "ebb (EH.B)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; AA as in "odd (AA.D)"

Details of famous persons named Jenna:
Actress Jenna Elfman, born Jenna Butala, 30 September 1971, Los Angeles, California.
Actress Jenna Fischer, born 7 March 1974, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Actress Jenna von Oy, born 2 May 1977.
Political Relative Jenna Bush, born 25 November 1981, Dallas, Texas.

More about famous people named Jenna: