# Eugene (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/eugene/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Greek |
| Meaning | “well born”, “good”, “well”, “born a certain way” |
| Pronunciation | /juˈd͡ʒin/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Gene, Genie |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 383,340 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 380,708 / 2,632 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 538, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from French Eugène, from Latin Eugenius, from Ancient Greek Εὐγένιος (Eugénios, “well born”), from εὖ (eû, “good, well”) + -γενής (-genḗs, “born a certain way”). Parallel to eugenics. Doublet of Yevgeny, Eugenius, and Owen.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 12 | 7,182 |
| 1993 | 7 | 10,942 |
| 1997 | 5 | 14,455 |
| 1998 | 7 | 11,517 |
| 2000 | 8 | 11,058 |
| 2001 | 8 | 11,348 |
| 2002 | 6 | 14,155 |
| 2003 | 10 | 9,903 |
| 2004 | 9 | 10,974 |
| 2005 | 6 | 15,090 |
| 2007 | 7 | 14,386 |
| 2010 | 10 | 10,674 |
| 2011 | 5 | 17,629 |
| 2016 | 5 | 17,073 |
| 2019 | 5 | 16,305 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 263 | 825 |
| 2012 | 315 | 735 |
| 2013 | 291 | 770 |
| 2014 | 291 | 791 |
| 2015 | 274 | 826 |
| 2016 | 300 | 790 |
| 2017 | 274 | 822 |
| 2018 | 254 | 864 |
| 2019 | 296 | 786 |
| 2020 | 272 | 840 |
| 2021 | 279 | 850 |
| 2022 | 248 | 930 |
| 2023 | 251 | 919 |
| 2024 | 276 | 875 |
| 2025 | 249 | 943 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 12 | 1,788 |
| 2012 | 25 | 1,086 |
| 2013 | 16 | 1,462 |
| 2014 | 15 | 1,560 |
| 2015 | 20 | 1,279 |
| 2016 | 18 | 1,431 |
| 2017 | 16 | 1,546 |
| 2018 | 16 | 1,533 |
| 2019 | 14 | 1,655 |
| 2020 | 15 | 1,548 |
| 2021 | 20 | 1,290 |
| 2022 | 15 | 1,609 |
| 2023 | 16 | 1,533 |
| 2024 | 17 | 1,517 |
| 2025 | 7 | 2,952 |

## In other languages

- Armenian: Եվգենի
- Bulgarian: Евге́ни, Евге́ний, Ю́джийн
- Catalan: Eugeni
- Chinese: 尤金
- Czech: Evžen
- Dutch: Eugeen
- Esperanto: Eŭgeno, Eŭĝeno
- French: Eugène
- Georgian: ევგენი
- German: Eugen
- Greek: Ευγένιος
- Hebrew: אֶבְגֵּנִי, יוּגִ׳ין
- Hungarian: Jenő
- Italian: Eugenio
- Japanese: ユージン
- Korean: 유진
- Latin: Eugenius
- Latvian: Eižens
- Polish: Eugeniusz
- Portuguese: Eugênio, Eugénio

## People named Eugene

- Eugène Delacroix, French painter (1798–1863)
- Eugene O'Neill, American playwright (1888–1953)
- Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (1814-1879)
- Eugène Pottier, French politician (1816-1887)
- Eugène Louis Boudin, French painter (1824-1898)
- Eugene Fama, American economist and Nobel laureate in Economics
- Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American geologist and astronomer
- Eugène Sue, French writer (1804-1857)
- Eugene V. Debs, American labor and political leader (1855–1926)
- Eugène de Beauharnais, French statesman and military officer (1781–1824)
- Eugène François Vidocq, French criminal and criminalist
- Eugène Scribe, French dramatist and librettist (1791-1861)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.