Ge
An English feminine given name of uncertain meaning, perhaps from Latin or French origins.
Name Census estimates that about 54 living Americans carry the first name Ge. It is a predominantly male name (91.1% of registrations). The average person named Ge today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ge births was 1991 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ge. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ge. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
54
~ 1 in 6,347,303 Americans
Peak year
1991
10 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
1992 SSA rank
#8,885
Tracked since 1981
Census
Ge in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,532 people with the first name Ge, which placed it at #9,188 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
#9,188
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,532 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
90.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ge
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ge is Asian/Pacific Islander at 90.2%. The next largest groups are White (6.4%) and Black (1.4%). 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 Ge 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 Ge at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander90.2% · 1,382
- White6.4% · 98
- Black or African American1.4% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 22
- Two or more races0.5% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Ge
Ge leans heavily male at 91.1% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ge as a male name
- Ranked #8,885 in 1992
- 5 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1991 (10 births)
Ge as a female name
- Ranked #13,053 in 1989
- 5 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ge on both sides of the split. Of the 1,535 people counted with this name, 887 were male (57.8%) and 648 were female (42.2%).
Popularity
Ge: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ge from the 1980s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 41 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Ge remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ge 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 Ge during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ges live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ge
The name Ge has its origins in Chinese culture, originating from the Mandarin Chinese language. It is a unisex name that is believed to have been derived from the Chinese character ???, which means "to follow" or "to respect."
One of the earliest recorded instances of this name can be found in the classic Chinese text, the Analects of Confucius, which dates back to the 5th century BCE. In this work, there is a mention of a person named Ge Hong, who was a renowned Taoist philosopher and alchemist of the 4th century CE.
Another notable figure with the name Ge was Ge Xuan, a famous Chinese painter and calligrapher who lived during the 8th century CE. His works are highly regarded and have been preserved in various museums and collections around the world.
In the realm of literature, the name Ge is associated with the 10th century Chinese poet and scholar, Ge Ling-Zhi. He was known for his contributions to the development of the ci poetry form, a type of lyric poetry that was popular during the Song Dynasty.
Moving forward in history, one of the most renowned individuals with the name Ge was Ge Hong-Xuan, a prominent military leader and strategist who lived during the late 19th century. He played a crucial role in the Taiping Rebellion, which was a major civil war in China that lasted from 1850 to 1864.
In more recent times, the name Ge has been carried by notable figures such as Ge Zhili, a Chinese physicist who made significant contributions to the field of semiconductor physics and the development of semiconductor devices in the 20th century.
Overall, the name Ge has a rich history and cultural significance in Chinese tradition, with its roots dating back to ancient times. Throughout the centuries, it has been associated with individuals who have made remarkable contributions in various fields, from philosophy and literature to military strategy and science.
People
Ge + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ge 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
Ge: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ge?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 54 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ge 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 6,347,303 US residents.
Is Ge a common name?
We classify Ge as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 56 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ge most popular?
The single biggest year for Ge was 1991, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ge is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ge in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,532 people with the name Ge, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,188 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 Ge 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 Ge?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ge on both sides of the split. Of the 1,535 people counted with this name, 887 were male (57.8%) and 648 were female (42.2%). 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 Ge?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ge is Asian/Pacific Islander at 90.2%. The next largest groups are White (6.4%) and Black (1.4%). 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 Ge most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ge in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.2% (1,382 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 Ge in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ge a male name?
Yes, 91.1% of people registered as Ge 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 Ge still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ge 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 Ge 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 have Ge as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.