Jens

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Yensi in LA Laos.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 11 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Jens is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name51K records spelled Jens4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Netherlands, Australia, United Kingdom

  Also written Jen'S

• Spanish given name17K records spelled Jens9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, United States, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Jen'S, Jëns

• Polish given name3.3K records spelled Jens5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Netherlands

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Jenś, Jenš

• Croatian given name705 records spelled Jens10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Netherlands, Sweden, United States

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovenian

  Also written Йенс, Иенс, Јенс

54 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Jens is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, a male given name from Low German or Danish, variant of Johannes, equivalent to English John

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Danish, a male given name, equivalent to English John

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, Patronymisch aus einem Rufnamen; 495 Träger.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen

• In German, männl. Vom., dänische und nieder­ deutsch-friesische Form von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In Swedish, Jens är en lågtysk och dansk form av → Johannes. Namnet har varit vanligast i Sydsverige. En känd namnbärare är författaren Jens Lapidus (f. 1974). I den rikssvenska almanackan 29 mars och i den finlandssvenska 24 juni.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 125 years between 1884–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Jens Peter Jacobsenb. 1847DKDanish novelist, poet, scientist (1847-1885)
• Jens Otto Kragb. 1914DKDanish politician (1914-1978)
• Jens Christian Skoub. 1918DKDanish chemist (1918-2018)
• Jens Fink-Jensenb. 1956DKDanish writer
• Stoltenberg, Jensb. 1959NOMinister of Finance, former prime minister of Norway and NATO secretary general
• Thomas Dollb. 1966DEnot in their usual nameGerman association football manager (born 1966)
• Jens Lehmannb. 1969DEGerman association football player (born 1969)
• Jens Nowotnyb. 1974DEGerman association football player
• Jens Bergenstenb. 1979SESwedish video game programmer (born 1979)
• Jens Spahnb. 1980DEGerman politician

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 562 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Jens?

We estimate roughly 81 thousand people bear Jens (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Jens have the most bearers?

Jens is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled jens.

How common is Jens compared with other names?

In Germany, Jens is the 47th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Jens a male or female name?

Jens is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Jens mean?

Recorded meaning: from the personal name Jens, a reduced form of Johannes (see John).