Humanverse

Gene vs Genieve

American parents have registered 133,874 Genes since 1880, against 536 Genieves. Gene is still ahead, with 63 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Gene Genieve

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 2008, when Gene had 79 and Genieve had 8.

Side by side

  Gene Genieve
Total US births 133,874536
Most in one year 3,31122
Babies in 2025 63under 5
Estimated living today 56,000170
Median age today 6847
Peak year 19371915
Best rank 61st boys1,571st girls
Rank in 2025 2,230thunranked
First recorded 18801900
Girls / boys 6,997 / 126,877536 / 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 Genieves are over 47. That is 21 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 Genieve.