Eugene (given name)

Eugene is a common male 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.

Egon, a common given name in parts of central and northern Europe, is also a variant of Eugene / Eugine. 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 A. Greene (1921–1942), American sailor, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross
 * 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 (born 1930), 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 (born 1937), 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
 * 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

 * 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
 * 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 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
 * 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 Goodilin (born 1969), Russian material scientist
 * Eugène Joseph Delporte (1882–1955), Belgian astronomer
 * 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
 * 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 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
 * Gene Moore (window dresser) (1910–1998), American designer and window dresser
 * Eugene Murtagh (born 1942), Irish billionaire businessman, founder of Kingspan Group
 * Eugene K. Palmer (born 1939) American fugitive
 * 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 Fitzherbert, the male protagonist in Tangled, commonly called 'Flynn Rider'
 * Eugene "Bling-Bling Boy" Hamilton, antagonist in the animated series Johnny Test
 * Eugene Horowitz, in Hey Arnold! media
 * Gene Hunt, in Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes
 * Eugene H. Krabs, in SpongeBob SquarePants media
 * Eugene Meltsner, in the Adventures in Odyssey series
 * The title character in Eugene Onegin, a novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin also made into an opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
 * Eugene (Pokémon) or Eusine, in Pokémon media
 * Eugene Tackleberry, in Police Academy
 * Eugene "Flash" Thompson, in the Spider-Man comics
 * Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch, comic relief in Power Rangers
 * Eugene Wrayburn, one of the main characters in Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend
 * Eugene Young, in The Practice
 * Gene Evernight, also known as Kyrios, antagonist in ArcheAge
 * Eugene Dix, in Final Destination 2
 * Eugene Francis, in The Boss Baby
 * Eugene Choi, a main character in the Korean drama Mr. Sunshine
 * Gene, a former antagonist on Regular Show
 * Eugene is an alias under the Halley Labs / LapFox Trax label
 * Eugene Hofstadt and Eugene “Gene” Draper, Don Draper’s father-in-law and youngest son in Mad Men