Jennie (제니) Real Name: Jennie Kim (김제니) — 본명

Quick answer

Jennie's real name is Jennie Kim (Korean: 김제니, Kim Jennie). She was born on January 16, 1996, in South Korea and is best known as a member of Blackpink.

Real name and stage name

Unlike many K-pop idols, Jennie performs under her own given name. Her full name is Jennie Kim, written in Korean as 김제니 (Kim Jennie), so her stage name is simply her first name used on its own. That makes her one of the clearest cases on this site of a "mononym" rather than a true pseudonym.

Jennie was born in South Korea on January 16, 1996. In 2004 she moved to New Zealand, where she spent part of her childhood and became fluent in English. She later returned to South Korea and passed an audition for YG Entertainment in 2010, beginning several years of trainee life before her debut.

She rose to fame as a member of Blackpink, which debuted in August 2016 and became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. In November 2018 she released her first solo single, "Solo." It topped South Korea's Circle Digital Chart and the US Billboard World Digital Songs chart, and its music video was the first by a Korean female soloist to pass one billion views on YouTube.

Her 2023 single "You & Me" reached number one on the Billboard Global Excl. US chart. That same year she set up her own label, Odd Atelier, and in 2024 she signed with Columbia Records. Her debut studio album, Ruby (2025), sold one million copies worldwide, entered the top ten of the US Billboard 200 and tied for the highest UK Albums Chart position by a Korean solo artist.

Beyond music, Jennie has also worked as an actress and is widely covered as a fashion figure. For fans searching her "real name," the short answer is that Jennie is real: Jennie Kim is the name on her records and in Korean press coverage.