Geneiveve
A feminine name of French origin meaning "white wave" or "white path".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Geneiveve. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Geneiveve today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Geneiveve births was 1916 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Geneiveve. 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
- • The typical person named Geneiveve is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Geneiveves were born before 1968.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Geneiveve. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1916
6 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1961 SSA rank
#6,071
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Geneiveve: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Geneiveve from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 16 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Geneiveve remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Geneiveve 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 Geneiveve during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Geneiveve
The name Geneiveve is derived from the Germanic word elements "kin" meaning family or kin, and "widu" meaning wood. It originated as a female given name in medieval France, an adaptation of the Old French name Geneviève. The name was often associated with the patron saint Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, who lived in the 5th century.
The earliest known written record of the name Geneviève is found in the Latin hagiography "Vita Sanctae Genovefae" (Life of Saint Genevieve), written in the 6th century by an anonymous monk. This text recounts the life and miracles of the young shepherdess Geneviève, who was born around 420 AD in Nanterre, near Paris, and later became a revered figure in the city for her piety and her role in protecting the city from the Huns.
One of the earliest recorded individuals to bear the name Geneiveve was the aforementioned Saint Geneviève (circa 420-502 AD), the patron saint of Paris. Her feast day, celebrated on January 3rd, was a major event in the city for centuries. Another early figure was Queen Geneviève of Brabant (circa 610-638 AD), a Merovingian queen consort and the wife of King Dagobert I.
During the Middle Ages, the name Geneiveve remained popular in France and other parts of Europe, often given in honor of the revered Saint Geneviève. Notable bearers of the name include Geneviève de Brabant (1130-1190), a French noblewoman and the subject of a popular medieval romance tale, and Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz (1920-2002), a French resistance fighter during World War II.
In the Renaissance period, the name Geneiveve continued to be used, often spelled in various ways such as Genevieve or Geneviève. One notable figure from this time was Geneviève d'Urfé (1504-1576), a French noblewoman and poet. Later, in the 18th century, the name was borne by Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz (1720-1803), a French aristocrat and the grandmother of the future French president Charles de Gaulle.
People
Geneiveve + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Geneiveve 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
Geneiveve: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Geneiveve?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Geneiveve 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Geneiveve a common name?
We classify Geneiveve as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Geneiveve most popular?
The single biggest year for Geneiveve was 1916, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Geneiveve is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Geneiveve a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Geneiveve 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.
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.