Jennifer (given name)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Jennifer.

Jennifer
Given Name


Queen Guinevere, by William Morris. Jennifer is the Cornish translation of Guinevere and Guinevere was best known for being the legendary queen consort of King Arthur.
Gender Female
Meaning white (fair, pure)
Origin Cornish
Related names Jenny, Jen, Jenna, Guinevere, Gwen
Wikipedia articles All pages beginning with Jennifer
Look up Jennifer in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Jennifer became a common first name for females in English-speaking countries during the 20th century. The name Jennifer is a Cornish variant of Guinevere,[1] which is a French form of the Old Welsh Gwenhwyfar (gwen: white, fair + hywfar: smooth, soft).[2] Other theories say the name derived from the Old English words jenefer, genefer and jinifer,[citation needed] which were all variants of Juniper and used to describe the juniper tree.[3]

The name has been in use since the 18th century.[1] Before 1906 the name was fairly uncommon, but it became popular after George Bernard Shaw used it for the main female character in The Doctor's Dilemma.[citation needed] It gained even more popularity in the 1970s. Though its popularity is often attributed to the novel and film Love Story,[citation needed] Jennifer was already the number 3 name given to baby girls in the United States in 1969, the year before the book and movie were released. Jennifer was the single most popular name for American girls from 1970 to 1984.[4] Since the early 1990s it has remained common, but considerably less so. It is also popular to Hispanic females. Diminutives include Jen (Jenn), Jenny (Jennie, Jenni), and Jenna.


[edit] Name variants

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Room, Adrian. Cassell's Dictionary of First Names. Sterling Publishing (2002), p332. ISBN 0304362263.
  2. ^ Room, Adrian. Cassell's Dictionary of First Names. Sterling Publishing (2002), p276. ISBN 0304362263.
  3. ^ Richard Oliver Heslop, Northumberland Words, 1892-94: see Ginifer & Jinifer.
  4. ^ Popular baby names
WP Anthroponymy notice This page or section lists people with the given name Jennifer. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the surname to that link.