Humanverse

Gene vs Geneiva

American parents have registered 133,874 Genes since 1880, against 20 Geneivas. Gene is still ahead, with 63 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gene against Geneiva, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gene Geneiva

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Gene has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1930, when Gene had 2,955 and Geneiva had 8.

Side by side

  Gene Geneiva
Total US births 133,87420
Most in one year 3,3118
Babies in 2025 63under 5
Estimated living today 56,0004
Median age today 6880
Peak year 19371930
Best rank 61st boys3,345th girls
Rank in 2025 2,230thunranked
First recorded 18801927
Girls / boys 6,997 / 126,87720 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Geneivas alive today are over 80; half the Genes are over 68. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Gene and Geneiva.