Gwenivere
Feminine · “white phantom”
Gwenivere is a respelling of Guinevere, and Guinevere is Welsh: Gwenhwyfar, the white phantom or fair spirit. It is one of the oldest names in British literature and one of the few whose whole history is a story.
How old is the name Gwenivere?
Gwenivere first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Gwenivere is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 800 people named Gwenivere are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gwenivere most popular?
Gwenivere peaked in 2022, reaching #2174 nationally. Today it ranks #3130, 956 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gwenhwyfar to Gwenivere
The story of Gwenivere
Gwenhwyfar belongs to the earliest layers of Welsh tradition, older than the French romances that made her famous. Norman and French writers took the Welsh name and reshaped it as Guenievre and Guinevere, and English kept that form. The nineteenth-century revival of Arthurian material brought it back into ordinary use, and American records show it in a scatter of spellings — Guinevere, Gwenivere, Gwenevere — each trying to keep the sound while making the Welsh consonants readable.
Meaning
white phantom, fair spirit
From Welsh gwen, white, fair or blessed, and hwyfar, a smooth or spectral being; the first element is the same one that opens Gwendolen and Gwyneth.
How the name formed
- Gwenhwyfar
- Guenievre
- Guinevere
- Gwenivere
Related forms: Gwenhwyfar · Guenièvre · Jennifer · Ginevra
Pronouncing Gwenivere
GWEN-uh-veer
Three syllables, first stressed. Welsh Gwenhwyfar is closer to gwen-HWIH-var.
Nicknames for Gwenivere
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 202287 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2174reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- +10.9%51 in 2025, from 46
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Gwenivere in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gwenhwyfar in Welsh — same name
- Guenièvre in French — same name
- Jennifer in Cornish — related form
- Ginevra in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Illinois.
Gweniveres among us
people named Gwenivere are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 31,515 born in 2025 was named Gwenivere
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Maeghan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gwenivere's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maeghan climbed just as high around 1990, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maeghan's path sketches the road Gwenivere is walking now.
Gwenivere sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Gwenivere is headed
Gwenivere should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Gwenivere beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gwenivere in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented meaning and a written record reaching back to early medieval Wales.
- Gwen is a ready short form that is plain, current and complete on its own.
- Jennifer is the same name in Cornish dress, which gives it a very familiar cousin.
- Guinevere is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected on most forms.
- The queen of the story is remembered chiefly for a betrayal, and that comes with the name.
- Three syllables and nine letters is a lot for a small hand to write.
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What they receive
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Gwenivere
Feminine · #3130 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gweniveres are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Gwenivere are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gwenivere in 2025?
- Gwenivere ranks #3130 among US girl names in 2025, with 51 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gwenivere?
- About 1 in every 31,515 US girls born in 2025 was named Gwenivere — 51 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gwenivere with classmates?
- Gwenivere will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gwenivere
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janylah#3130 · Robbie#3130 · Lillyanna#3130 · Bayla#3130 · Karmyn#3130 · Advika#3130 · Samari#3130 · Precious#3130
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gwenivere? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gwenivere and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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