Geno
A masculine name of Ancient Greek origin meaning "born" or "progeny".
Name Census estimates that about 2,796 living Americans carry the first name Geno. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Geno today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Geno births was 2023 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Geno. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Geno with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 122,587 Americans
Peak year
2023
70 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,754
Tracked since 1912
Census
Geno in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,629 people with the first name Geno, which placed it at #6,164 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
#6,164
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,629 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Geno
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Geno is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.8%) and Black (18.5%). 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 Geno 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 Geno at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.6% · 1,383
- Hispanic or Latino20.8% · 547
- Black or African American18.5% · 486
- Two or more races4.0% · 106
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 71
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 36
Popularity
Geno: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Geno from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 492 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Geno remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Geno 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 Geno during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Genos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Pennsylvania, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Geno, while North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 91 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Geno
The name Geno has its origins in the Greek language, derived from the word "genos," which means "race" or "family." It is believed to have emerged as a given name during the Byzantine period, around the 5th to 15th centuries AD, in regions heavily influenced by Greek culture, such as modern-day Greece, parts of Turkey, and the Balkans.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Geno can be found in the writings of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, who lived in the 6th century AD. He mentions a military commander named Geno who served under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I.
In the Middle Ages, the name Geno gained popularity among the aristocratic families of the Republic of Venice, where it was often associated with noble lineages and a sense of heritage. Notable figures from this era include Geno Dandolo, a Venetian doge (ruler) who reigned from 1192 to 1205.
During the Renaissance period, the name Geno continued to be used in Italy, particularly in regions with strong Greek cultural influences, such as Sicily and Calabria. One prominent individual bearing this name was Geno Gabrieli, an Italian composer and organist who lived from 1557 to 1612 and made significant contributions to the development of the Venetian polychoral style.
In the 19th century, the name Geno gained recognition through the works of the Italian writer and playwright Geno Rocca (1828-1915), known for his comedic plays that satirized the social and political issues of his time.
Another notable figure with the name Geno was Geno Pampaloni (1918-2001), an Italian actor and comedian who gained fame for his roles in several popular Italian films and television shows in the mid-20th century.
While the name Geno has its roots in Greek and Italian cultures, it has been adopted and used in various other parts of the world, often as a diminutive or shortened form of names like Gennaro, Genaro, or Eugene.
People
Geno + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Geno 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
Geno: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Geno?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,796 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Geno 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 122,587 US residents.
Is Geno a common name?
We classify Geno as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,678 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Geno most popular?
The single biggest year for Geno was 2023, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Geno is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Geno in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,629 people with the name Geno, or 0.87 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,164 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 Geno 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 Geno?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Geno leans strongly male. 2,566 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 64 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Geno?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Geno is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.8%) and Black (18.5%). 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 Geno most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Geno in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.6% (1,383 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 Geno in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Geno a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Geno in the SSA data are male. 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 Geno still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Geno 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 Geno 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 Americans are named Geno?
See how many people share the name Geno on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.