Jennifer

From WikiName

 |female

 1

ORIGIN & HISTORY

The name Jennifer is of Welsh/Cornish origin and was derived from the English name Guinevere (Gwenhwyvar). Some believe that the names Jenny and Jennifer actually evolved separately. Jenny was considered a common nickname or pet name for Johanna or Jane, and in Scotland, for Jannet. The name Jane was used with a nickname Jenny in 1902 in E. Nesbitt's "Five Children and It;" and in 1602, Shakespeare punned "genitive" with Jenny in "The Merry Wives of Windsor." It is thought that the success of the name Jennifer was due to a shift from older names like Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean and Joan, which were all going out of fashion around the 1970s.

POPULARITY

From 1970 through 1984, the name Jennifer ranked #1 on the Social Security Administration's list of the Top Five Baby names for females. The following year it dropped to #3; then for 2 years it was #4; and finally, in 1988, it dropped to #5 and hasn't reappeared on the Top Five list since. In 2006, it ranked #51 of the Top 1,000 Names. In England, Jennifer was only one of seven names that made it to the Top 100 list from 1944 through 1994.

FACTS

The name Jennifer was used for the character, Jennifer Dubedat in George Bernard Shaw's famous 1905 play, "The Doctor's Dilemma," even though it was not a popular name during the first half of the 20th Century.

The name Jennifer has also been the subject of numerous popular songs, such as Donovan's "Jennifer Juniper" and the Hollies "Jennifer Eccles." Although Jennifer is always thought of as a name given to females, it ranked 2772nd in 2002 as a boy's name in Belgium.

NAMESAKES

The melodic name Jennifer was so popular that a theory evolved - the "Theory of the Two Degrees of Jennifer." It is similar to the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but this theory suggests ethat if you don't know a Jen yourself, at least one of your friends or acquaintances does.

Jennifer Cavileri was the famous love interest of Oliver Barrett in Erich Segal's movie, Love Story.

FAMOUS PERSONS

• Jennifer Jones. Although the name Jennifer has many variants that go back for centuries, Jennifer first became popular by actress, Jennifer Jones, who won an Academy Award in 1943 for "The Song of Bernadette," and in 1948 appeared as the character Jennie Appleton in "Portrait of Jennie."

• Jennifer Jason Leigh
• Jennifer Aniston
• Jennifer Connelly
• Jennifer Grey
• Jennifer Garner
• Jennifer Lopez
• Jennifer Love Hewitt
• Jennifer Hudson
• Jennifer Tilly
• Jennifer Beals
• Jennifer O'Neill
• Jennifer Capriati (tennis star)
• Many famous people have named their daughters, Jennifer, such as Jack Nicholson, David Lynch, Billy Crystal, Dustin Hoffman, Eliott Gould, and Bill Gates.

OTHER JENNIFER'S

Jennifer Choi, Jennifer Kerns, Jennifer Metcalfe, Jennifer Smith, Jennifer Johnson, Jennifer Williams, Jennifer Jones, Jennifer Brown, Jennifer Davis, Jennifer Miller, Jennifer Wilson, Jennifer Moore, Jennifer Taylor, Jennifer A-c, Jennifer Aaberg, Jennifer Aaberts, Jennifer Aaby, Jennifer Aadahl, Jennifer Aadland, Jennifer Aagaard, Jennifer Aagesen, Jennifer Aagon, Jennifer Aakjar, Jennifer Aal, Jennifer Aalbers, Jennifer Aalcala, Jennifer Aalderink, Jennifer Aalderks, Jennifer Aalfs, Jennifer Aalsma, Jennifer Aamodt, Jennifer Aamold, Jennifer Aanderud, Jennifer Aanenson, Jennifer Aanerud, Jennifer Aanstad, Jennifer Aaragon, Jennifer Aarant, Jennifer Aardsma, Jennifer Aarhus, Jennifer Aarne, Jennifer Aaro, Jennifer Aaron, Jennifer Aarons, Jennifer Aaronson, Jennifer Aarts, Jennifer Aartsen, Jennifer Aasand, Jennifer Abadir, Jennifer Abaroa, More results

Author: Sharon Lea Hill