How rare is the name Eugene?

143,351 people in the United States have the first name Eugene, about 1 in 2,107. It ranks #396 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

EUGENE

#396

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
143,351
About
1 in 2,107
This common or more
54.1%
Who bears it

Of the 143,351 people named Eugene, 68.7% reported their origin as White, 18.3% as Black and 4.9% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Virtually all are male (99.5%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Eugene peaked in 1927, when 9,827 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1927
Births that year
9,827
In 2025*
249 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 383,340 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Eugene by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1920s, when it ranked #49. The largest share of babies named Eugene, 32.5%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#1443,461
1890s#1574,365
1900s#1506,002
1910s#9235,435
1920s#4985,390
1930s#5571,411
1940s#9957,535
1950s#17248,479
1960s#25329,500
1970s#33016,704
1980s#46810,684
1990s#8106,132
2000s#1,3053,797
2010s#1,7282,870
2020s#1,8591,575
Before 19012.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–2728%
Silent Generation 1928–4532.5%
Baby boom 1946–6423.1%
Generation X 1965–808%
Millennials 1981–963.7%
Generation Z 1997–121.6%
2013 and later0.9%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Eugene is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Eugene has been most common in North Dakota (1.9×), South Dakota (1.9×), and Wisconsin (1.6×), and least common in Nevada (0.2×).

364,790 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Spelled almost the same

5 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Eugene, most common first.

Also a last name

As a last name, Eugene ranks #6,870 of 156,621, with 4,713 people. See Eugene as a last name

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