JENNIFER

JEN-ih-fer

A Cornish form of Guinevere, later widely associated with grace and femininity.

Meaning

In the 19th-century sources, Jennifer is identified as a Cornish form of Guenever/Guinevere. Those books note that the older name has been connected by some writers with a Celtic meaning like "white wave," though they also question that derivation. In modern use, Jennifer is usually treated as a borrowing from the Guinevere name-family rather than a transparently literal-form name.

Origin

CornishWelshFrenchMedieval Latinfeminine

Fun fact

Yonge notes that Jennifer was still frequent in Cornwall in her day, but not elsewhere in Britain.

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Confidence: sourced. Sources: History of Christian Names, Praenomina; or, the etymology of the principal Christian names of Great Britain and Ireland.

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