Genavieve
A feminine name of French origin meaning "white wave" or "white path".
Name Census estimates that about 830 living Americans carry the first name Genavieve. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Genavieve today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Genavieve births was 2011 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Genavieve. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
830
~ 1 in 412,957 Americans
Peak year
2011
49 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,452
Tracked since 1984
Census
Genavieve in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 648 people with the first name Genavieve, which placed it at #17,157 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,157
National first-name rank
People counted
648
648 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Genavieve
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Genavieve is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.9%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Genavieve described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Genavieve at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.7% · 406
- Hispanic or Latino27.9% · 181
- Two or more races6.6% · 43
- Black or African American1.4% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Genavieve: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Genavieve from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 360 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Genavieve by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Genavieve during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Genavieves live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Genavieve, while Minnesota, Florida, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Genavieve
The name Genavieve originates from the Brittonic Celtic language, spoken in parts of what is now Great Britain. It likely emerged sometime in the early to mid-first millennium AD. The name is derived from the Celtic roots "geno" meaning "breed" or "race" and "viu" meaning "alive" or "vital." The name can be interpreted as meaning "of the race that lives."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name comes from 5th century France, where the nun St. Genevieve (c. 422-512) lived in Paris. Revered as the patroness of the city, St. Genevieve is credited with leading the people of Paris in prayer during Attila the Hun's invasion, thus sparing the city from destruction.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name maintained connections to Christian religious figures. In the 7th century, St. Genevieve of Brabant (c. 629-668) was a Belgian princess who founded numerous abbeys and monasteries. Several centuries later, Blessed Genovefa Torres Morales (1870-1956) was a Spanish nun who founded the Congregation of the Sacred Labor of the Cross and the Passion.
The name also found secular usage and appeared among European nobility. One such example is Geneviève d'Estrees (1573-1625), who served as the chief mistress of King Henry IV of France. In England, Genevieve Gambier (1755-1805) was a minor aristocrat known for her writings and socialite activities.
Other notable individuals with the name include the French author and playwright Geneviève Brisac (1959-), the American singer Genevieve (1981-), and the Canadian stage actress Genevieve Steele (1979-). Canadian singer Genevieve Toupin (1980-) is another contemporary figure bearing the name.
While the name has ancient roots, its popularity has endured across Europe and parts of the Americas. Spanning religious and secular contexts, from saints to socialites, the name Genevieve carries a rich legacy drawn from its Celtic linguistic origins.
People
Genavieve + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Genavieve as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Genavieve: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Genavieve?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 830 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Genavieve going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 412,957 US residents.
Is Genavieve a common name?
We classify Genavieve as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 842 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Genavieve most popular?
The single biggest year for Genavieve was 2011, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Genavieve is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Genavieve in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 648 people with the name Genavieve, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,157 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Genavieve in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Genavieve?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Genavieve appears almost entirely female. Of the 649 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Genavieve?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Genavieve is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.9%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Genavieve most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Genavieve in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.7% (406 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Genavieve in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Genavieve a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Genavieve in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Genavieve still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Genavieve in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Genavieve can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Genavieve?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.