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
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #53 among boys — 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 — more than any year before or since.
  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.