Jenifer
Greek at root, meaning "white fairy" or "white phantom". Barely a hundred Polish women carry it, and no girls have been given it in years: most Poles will never meet one.
Jenifer Pronunciation
Jenifer is pronounced ye-NYEE-fer (/jɛˈɲifɛr/).
What Jenifer means
Where Jenifer comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Jenifer lives in the English-speaking world, where it became one of the best-loved girls' names of the twentieth century. Its origin is traced to Greek. The meaning that clings to it is strange and bright: white fairy, white phantom.
That image has an edge to it. A white fairy is not sweet decoration. A phantom is pale and hard to hold. A girl reading her own name off a class register carries a word that once pointed at something between the living and the unseen.
The name reached number one for girls in the United States for fifteen years running, from 1970 to 1984. Then it faded, as popular names do. The old meaning stayed put: white fairy, white phantom.
How many people are named Jenifer
1 in 216768 women in Poland is named Jenifer. 104 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #3349 among female names.
Jenifer's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been falling steadily since 2000.
Jenifer as a middle name
Jenifer is a first name for 104 women in Poland and a middle name for another 44, a 70/30 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1033rd, between Hermenegilda (44) and Kristin (44).
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#1031 Hannelore44
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#1032 Hermenegilda44
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#1033 Jenifer44
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#1034 Kristin44
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#1035 Malka44