Girl · Germanic or Gaulish (disputed)
Genevieve
Say it: JEN-uh-veev
Meaning
Uncertain. Possibly from Germanic or Gaulish elements; proposals include 'kin' and 'woman', but none is settled.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Long a French favourite; used in English since the 19th century.
Its wave through time
A revival, back after decades away
In the United States
- 116,041 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1915, about 1 in 336 girls
- 1,685 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Geneviève
| French | Geneviève |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Genoveva |
| Italian | Genoveffa |
| Portuguese | Genoveva |
| German | Genoveva |
| Polish | Genowefa |
| English | Genevieve |
Famous bearers
- Genevieve, 5th-century patron saint of Paris
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.