Jennifer is the Cornish form of the Welsh Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) — gwen (fair, blessed) + hwyfar (smooth, phantom). The #1 most popular US baby name for girls every single year from 1970 to 1984 — a 15-year reign matched by no other female name in modern American history. *Erich Segal's 1970 novel Love Story — and its film starring Ali MacGraw as "Jennifer Cavalleri" — triggered the explosion. Jennifer Aniston (born 1969) — American actress, Friends*. Jennifer Lopez (born 1969) — American singer-actress. Jennifer Lawrence (born 1990) — youngest woman with three Oscar nominations.
Featured throughout 1970s-90s American pop culture; among the most chronicled American name booms.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Jennifer reduce to 9, The Giver. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.