Eugene

Where Eugene comes from

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.
— Wiktionary's entry for Eugene
  • Ancient Greek
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Eugene through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #53 among boys, with 328 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1888
    Eugene O'Neill born
    American playwright
  3. 1927
    Peak, #20
    9,742 babies named Eugene, the most in any year.
  4. 1928
    Eugene Merle Shoemaker born
    American geologist and astronomer
  5. 1955
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #81.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Ancient Greek.
Namesakes
  • Eugene O'Neill · American playwright, 1888–1953
  • Eugene Merle Shoemaker · American geologist and astronomer, 1928–1997
  • Eugene V. Debs · American labor and political leader, 1855–1926
  • Eugene Levy · Canadian actor and comedian, born 1946
  • Eugene McCarthy · American politician, 1916–2005

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.