Eugene (given name)

Eugene is a common masculine given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (eugenēs), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (eu), "well" and γένος (genos), "race, stock, kin". Gene is a common shortened form. The feminine variant is Eugenia or Eugenie.

Other male foreign-language variants include:

People

Notable people with the given name Eugene or Eugène include:

Christianity

Eugene or Eugenios of Trebizond, 4th century Christian saint and martyr

St. Eugene, one of the deacons of saint Zenobius of Florence

Eugene (Eoghan) (died c. 618), Irish saint

Pope Eugene I (died 657), Italian pope from 655 to 657

Pope Eugene II (died 827), Italian pope from 824 to 827

Pope Eugene III (died 1153), Italian pope from 1145 to 1153

Pope Eugene IV (1383–1447), Italian pope from 1431 to 1447

Eugène Philippe LaRocque (1927–2018), Roman Catholic bishop from Canada

Eugene Antonio Marino (1934–2000), first African-American archbishop in the United States

Military

Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736), Austrian general, statesman of the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian monarchy

Eugène de Beauharnais (1781–1824), stepson and adopted child of Napoleon

Eugene Goodman (born 1980), American United States Capitol Police officer who diverted invading rioters from the United States Senate chamber during the January 6 Capitol attack

Eugene A. Greene (1921–1942), American sailor, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross

Eugene Hasenfus (1941–2025), United States Marine helping the right-wing rebel Contras in Nicaragua

Eugène Maizan (1819–1845), French naval lieutenant and explorer

Eugene Sledge (1923–2001), American World War II Marine and academic

Eugene Sullivan (1918–1942), American sailor, one of the Sullivan brothers

Television and films

Gene L. Coon (1924–1973), American screenwriter and television producer

Eugene Cordero (born 1986), American actor

Eugene Robert Glazer (born 1942), American actor

Gene Hackman (1930–2025), American actor

Gene Kelly (1912–1996), American dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer

Eugene Levy (born 1946), Canadian actor

Eugene Mirman (born 1974), Russian-born American comedian, writer, and filmmaker

Gene Rayburn (1917–1999), American radio personality and game show host

Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991), American scriptwriter and producer

Eugène Saccomano (1936–2019), French radio journalist and non-fiction author

Gene Siskel (1946–1999), American film critic

Music

Gene Allison (1934–2004), American R&B singer

Gene Austin (1900–1972), American singer-songwriter

Gene Clark (1944–1991), American singer, songwriter, founding member of the band The Byrds

Eugen Doga (1937–2025), Moldovan composer

Wendell Eugene (1923–2017), American jazz musician

Eugene Aynsley Goossens (1893–1962), English conductor and composer

Eugène Goossens, fils (1867–1958), French conductor and violinist

Eugène Goossens, père (1845–1906), Belgian conductor

Eugene Hütz (born 1972), Ukrainian-American singer, composer, disc jockey and actor, frontman of the band Gogol Bordello

Eugene Izotov (born 1973), Russian-American oboist

Gene Krupa (1909–1973), American jazz and big band drummer

Gene McDaniels (1935–2011), American singer-songwriter

Eugene Ormandy (1899–1985), Hungarian-born conductor

Eugene Pao (fl. 2000s–2010s), Hong Kong jazz guitarist

Gene Puerling (1929–2008), vocal arranger, leader of The Hi-Lo's and The Singers Unlimited

Gene Taylor (1929–2001), American jazz double bassist

Eugene Tzigane (fl. 2000s–2020s), Japanese-American conductor

Eugene Wright (1923–2020), American jazz bassist, member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet

Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931), Belgian violinist, composer and conductor

Gene Simmons (born 1949), bassist and co-lead singer of rock band Kiss

Literature

Eugene Field (1850–1895), American writer, columnist and children's poet

Eugène Ionesco (1909–1994), Romanian-French playwright and dramatist

Eugène Marin Labiche (1815–1888), French dramatist

Eugène Lanti (1879–1947), French Esperantist, socialist and writer

Eugène Marais (1871–1936), South African writer and poet

Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953), American playwright

Eugène Edine Pottier (1816–1887), French revolutionary socialist, poet, and transport worker

Eugene Trivizas (born 1946), Greek author

Art

Eugène Broerman (1861–1932), Belgian painter

Eugène Boudin (1824–1898), French painter

Eugène Carrière (1849–1906), French symbolist

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), French painter

Eugène Grasset (1845–1917), Swiss decorative artist of the Belle Epoque

Eugène Jansson (1852–1915), Swedish painter

Eugene Lambert (1928–2010), Irish puppeteer

Eugene Pandala (born 1954), Indian architect

Eugene Oliver Palmer (born 1955), Jamaican-born British artist

Evgenios Spatharis (1924–2009), Greek shadow theatre artist

Eugene V. Thaw (1927–2018), American art dealer and collector

Politics

Eugène Koffi Adoboli (1934–2025), Togolese politician

Eugene H. Belden (1840–1910), Michigan politician

Eugene "Geno" Chiarelli (born 1994), West Virginian state delegate

Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926), American socialist

Eugene Reginald de Fonseka (died 2003), puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

Eugène Heijnen (born 1964), Dutch politician and tax consultant

Eugene D. Lujan (1887–1980), justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court

Eugene McCarthy (1916–2005), U.S. senator from Minnesota

Eugene McGehee (1929–2014), Louisiana politician

Eugene Mitchell (1866–1944), American lawyer and president of the Atlanta Board of Education

Eugène Paquet (1867–1951), Canadian parliamentarian

Eugene E. Pratt (c. 1892–1970), justice of the Utah Supreme Court

Eugène Ruffy (1854–1919), Swiss politician

Eugene Sawyer (1934–2008), American businessman and politician

Eugène Terre'Blanche (1941–2010), South African right-wing politician and leader of the AWB

Sports

Eugene Asante (born 2001), American football player

Eugene Laverty (born 1986), Irish professional motorcyclist

Eugene Galekovic (born 1981), Australian goalkeeper

Eugene Sseppuya (born 1983), Ugandan football striker

Eugène Chaboud (1907–1983), Formula One driver from France

Eugène Christophe (1885–1970), French professional cyclist

Eugene Lawrence (born 1986), American professional basketball player

Eugene Selznick (1930–2012), American volleyball player

Eugene Glazer (fencer) (born 1939), American Olympic fencer

Gene Cockrell (1934–2020), American football player

Gene Filipski (1931–1994), American football player

Gene Moore (outfielder) (1909–1978), right fielder in Major League Baseball

Gene Moore (pitcher) (1886–1938), left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball

Gene Okerlund (1942–2019), American professional wrestling announcer

Gene Prebola (1938–2021), American football player

Geno Smith (born 1990), American football player

Gene Snitsky (born 1970), American professional wrestler who formerly performed for World Wrestling Entertainment

Gene Upshaw (1945–2008), American football player, labor leader, and former NFL Players Association director

Sciences

Eugène Michel Antoniadi (1870–1944), Greek astronomer

Eugen Bleuler (1857–1939), Swiss psychiatrist who coined the terms schizophrenia and autism

Eugene Braunwald (1929–2026), Austrian-born American cardiologist

Eugène Charles Catalan (1814–1894), Belgian mathematician

Eugene Cernan (1934–2017), American astronaut, eleventh person to walk on the Moon

Eugene Chelyshev (1921–2020), Russian indologist

Eugene Cussons (1979–2026), South African primatologist

Eugène Joseph Delporte (1882–1955), Belgian astronomer

Eugene V. Gallagher (born 1950), American religious scholar

Eugene Goodilin (born 1969), Russian material scientist

Eugene Gu (born 1986), American physician-scientist

Eugene Guth (1905–1990), Hungarian-American theoretical physicist

Eugene Lazowski (1913–2006), Polish doctor who saved 8,000 people by creating a fake typhus epidemic in World War II

Eugene Parker (1927–2022), American solar and plasma physicist, after which the Parker Solar Probe was named

Eugène Schueller (1881–1957), French chemist, entrepreneur and founder of L'Oréal

Eugene Merle Shoemaker (1928–1997), American astronomer and geologist

Eugène Simon (1848–1924), French arachnologist

Eugène Soubeiran (1797–1859), French scientist who served as chief pharmacist at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital

Eugene Stanley (born 1941), American physicist

Eugene Ulrich (born 1938), American Dead Sea Scrolls scholar

Eugene Wigner (1902–1995), Hungarian-American theoretical physicist and winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963

Other professions

Eugene Allen (1919–2010), White House butler

Eugene Burger (1939–2017), American magician and author

Gene Gotti (born 1946), Italian-American mobster

Eugene Jarvis (fl. 1970s–2020s), American computer games designer and programmer

Eugene de Kock (born 1949), South African policeman serving a life sentence

Gene Kranz (born 1933), NASA Flight Director

Eugène Minkowski (1885–1972), French psychiatrist

Eugene Murtagh (born 1942), Irish billionaire businessman, founder of Kingspan Group

Eugene K. Palmer (born 1939) American fugitive

Eugene Roshal (born 1972), Russian software engineer, developer of RAR and WinRAR

Eugene Skinner (1809–1864), American pioneer, founder of Eugene, Oregon

Eugene Stoner (1922–1997), American firearms designer, who designed M16 rifle

Eugene Tan (born 1970), Singapore political analyst and law lecturer

Eugene Thuraisingam (born 1975), Singaporean criminal lawyer

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879), French architect

Eugene Lee Yang (born 1986), American filmmaker, actor, author, and internet celebrity

Fictional characters

Gene Belcher, a main character in the animated series Bob's Burgers

Eugene Chaud, in Mega Man Battle Network

Eugene Horowitz, in Hey Arnold!