Humanverse

Gene vs Geneviene

American parents have registered 133,874 Genes since 1880, against 76 Genevienes. Gene is still ahead, with 63 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Gene Geneviene

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 2025, when Gene had 63 and Geneviene had 5.

Side by side

  Gene Geneviene
Total US births 133,87476
Most in one year 3,3119
Babies in 2025 635
Estimated living today 56,0006
Median age today 680
Peak year 19371926
Best rank 61st boys3,269th girls
Rank in 2025 2,230th14,942nd
First recorded 18801913
Girls / boys 6,997 / 126,87776 / 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 Genes alive today are over 68; half the Genevienes have not had a first birthday. That is 68 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 Geneviene.