Jenavieve
Feminine
Jenavieve is Genevieve respelled so that English readers say it correctly. The G in the French Genevieve is soft, which English handles inconsistently, and the J removes the doubt. The name underneath belongs to the patron saint of Paris, and its origin is genuinely obscure. Jenavieve's American peak is 2011.
How old is the name Jenavieve?
Jenavieve first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Jenavieve alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,000 people named Jenavieve are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jenavieve most popular?
Jenavieve peaked in 2011, reaching #2695 nationally. Today it ranks #5917, 3,222 places below that high. See the whole 2011 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Genovefa to Jenavieve
The story of Jenavieve
Saint Genevieve, who died around 512, is the patron of Paris. The tradition holds that she persuaded the Parisians not to flee when Attila's Huns approached in 451, and that the city was spared; she is credited again with organizing relief during a later siege. Her cult was central to Parisian religious life for fifteen centuries, and the Pantheon was originally built as a church dedicated to her. The name spread through French naming and reached English use in the nineteenth century. The J respelling is American and modern, and it does exactly one job: it prevents a hard G.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Not established. Genevieve descends from the Latin Genovefa, which is generally taken as Germanic or Gaulish, and proposals include a compound of geno, 'kin, race', with wefa, 'woman' — giving something like 'woman of the people'. That reading is plausible and unproven; the second element is particularly uncertain. A Celtic derivation has also been proposed. The saint is well documented and her name is not.
How the name formed
- Genovefa
- Genevieve
- Jenavieve
Related forms: Genevieve · Genoveva · Genoveva · Genoveffa
Pronouncing Jenavieve
JEN-uh-veev
Three syllables, stress on the first, with a soft j and a long final e. The French original is zhon-vee-EV, with a nasal first vowel and end stress; almost no American bearer uses that. The J spelling exists to guarantee the English version.
Nicknames for Jenavieve
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
- 1988
- Most girls named
- 201165 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2695reached in 2011
- Change vs 2024
- −9.1%20 in 2025, from 22
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.
Jenavieve in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Genevieve in French — related form
- Genoveva in German — related form
- Genoveva in Spanish — related form
- Genoveffa in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Jenavieves among us
people named Jenavieve are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was named Jenavieve
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 Kally test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jenavieve's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kally climbed just as high around 1990, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kally's path sketches the road Jenavieve is walking now.
Jenavieve 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
Jenavieve beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jenavieve in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The J removes the hard-G risk that the French spelling carries in English.
- Jen, Evie and Vivi are all available as short forms with different registers.
- It has a well-documented saint and fifteen centuries of Parisian history behind it.
- It will be corrected to Genevieve by most people writing it down.
- The French pronunciation is quite different and occasionally expected.
- The name's own etymology is genuinely unresolved.
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What they receive
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Jenavieve
Feminine · #5917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jenavieves are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Jenavieve are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jenavieve in 2025?
- Jenavieve ranks #5917 among US girl names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jenavieve?
- About 1 in every 80,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Jenavieve — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jenavieve with classmates?
- Jenavieve will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jenavieve
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elda#5917 · Saloma#5917 · Fawn#5917 · Sarafina#5917 · Jaymie#5917 · Jania#5917 · Kimberlynn#5917 · Patsy#5917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jenavieve? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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