Eugene

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Eugenio in BR Brazil, AR Argentina, ES Spain and 5 more, Евгений in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TR Türkiye and 4 more, Євген in UA Ukraine and Eugeniusz in PL Poland.

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 20 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◐

Eugene is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name88K records spelled Eugene8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada

  Also written Eugène, Eugéne, Eu-Gene, Eugenè, Eugeǹe

• Swahili given name44K records spelled Eugene6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Kenya, South Africa, Philippines

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Kinyarwanda

  Also written Eugéne, Eugène, Eugené

• Greek given name8.5K records spelled Eugene19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, Cyprus, United Kingdom

  Languages: Greek, German, English

  Also written Ευγενιος, Evgenios, Eugenios, Ευγένιος, Gioutzin

• Estonian given name6.4K records spelled Eugene26 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Estonia, Finland, Hungary, United States

  Languages: Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian

  Also written Jevgeni, Eugène, Eugéné, Eugéne

• French (Côte d’Ivoire) given name4.6K records spelled Eugene2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Côte d’Ivoire

  Also written Eugène

• Turkish given name2.2K records spelled Eugene5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Türkiye, United Kingdom, South Africa

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani

  Also written Eugène, Eugéne

71 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●

Eugene 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.

• From the Old French form of the Greek name Eugenios (from eugenés EUPHEMIA ‘well-born’, ‘noble’). This name was borne by various early saints, notably a 5th-century bishop of Carthage, a 7thcentury bishop of Toledo, and four popes. It is sometimes used as an Anglicized form of Irish Eéghan. Short form: Gene.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• Greek, ‘well born’. Aname used to translate Eoghan.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, A male given name from Ancient Greek.

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

• In French, Du grec eugenēs, « bien né »; fête de saint Eugène le 2 juillet.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In English, city, OR; pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

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) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Eugene IIb. 780ITpope
• Eugenius IVb. 1383ITnot in their usual namepope of the Catholic Church from 1431 to 1447
• Eugène de Beauharnaisb. 1781FRFrench statesman and military officer (1781–1824)
• Marcellin Berthelotb. 1827FRnot in their usual nameFrench chemist and politician (1827-1907)
• Paul Éluardb. 1895FRnot in their usual nameFrench poet (1895–1952)
• Eugene Wignerb. 1902HUHungarian-American physicist and mathematician (1902–1995)
• Louis Néelb. 1904FRnot in their usual nameFrench physicist (1904-2000)
• Gene Roddenberryb. 1921USnot in their usual nameAmerican television screenwriter and producer (1921–1991)
• Gore Vidalb. 1925USnot in their usual nameAmerican writer (1925–2012)
• Gene Hackmanb. 1930USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor and novelist (1930–2025)

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 · 694 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Eugene?

We estimate roughly 388 thousand people bear Eugene (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Eugene have the most bearers?

Eugene is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled евгений.

How common is Eugene compared with other names?

In Russia, Eugene is the 19th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Eugene a male or female name?

Eugene 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 Eugene mean?

Recorded meaning: from Gk Eugenios ‘Well-born’, ‘Noble’) borne by a 3rdcent.