Germaine
A French feminine name derived from Latin meaning "descendant of the Romans".
Name Census estimates that about 5,160 living Americans carry the first name Germaine. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Germaine today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Germaine births was 1972 (250 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Germaine. 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 Germaine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Germaine was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
5.2K
~ 1 in 66,425 Americans
Peak year
1972
250 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,346
Tracked since 1895
Census
Germaine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,467 people with the first name Germaine, which placed it at #3,299 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
#3,299
National first-name rank
People counted
6.5K
6,467 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Germaine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Germaine is Black at 46.0%. The next largest groups are White (40.1%) and Hispanic (5.5%). 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 Germaine 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 Germaine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.0% · 2,975
- White40.1% · 2,593
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 355
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 257
- Two or more races2.9% · 185
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 102
Gender
Gender distribution for Germaine
Germaine is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 10,261 total registrations, 2,357 (23.0%) were male and 7,904 (77.0%) were female.
Germaine as a male name
- Ranked #11,346 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1972 (157 births)
Germaine as a female name
- Ranked #15,988 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1928 (203 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Germaine on both sides of the split. Of the 6,459 people counted with this name, 1,807 were male (28.0%) and 4,652 were female (72.0%).
Popularity
Germaine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Germaine from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,644 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Germaine 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 Germaine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Germaines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Germaine, while Alabama, Nebraska, Mississippi recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 183 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Germaine
The name Germaine is derived from the Latin word "germanus," which means "brother" or "sibling." This name has its roots in ancient Roman culture and was initially used as a surname or family name.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Germaine gained popularity as it was associated with Saint Germaine, a 6th-century bishop of Paris who was known for his charitable works and advocacy for the poor. He is celebrated on May 28th in the Catholic Church.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Germaine was Germaine Cousin (1579-1601), a French peasant girl who was later canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. She was known for her piety and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the 17th century, Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) was a prominent Swiss-French writer, literary critic, and influential figure during the French Revolution and the Romantic period. Her works, such as "De l'Allemagne" and "Corinne," explored themes of individuality, passion, and social reform.
Another notable figure with the name Germaine was Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), a French composer and one of the few female members of the influential Les Six group of composers in the early 20th century. She is best known for her piano compositions and ballets.
Germaine Greer (born 1939) is an Australian academic, writer, and feminist scholar. Her groundbreaking book "The Female Eunuch" (1970) became a seminal text in the feminist movement and challenged traditional attitudes towards women's roles and sexuality.
Germaine Dulac (1882-1942) was a French filmmaker and pioneer of the avant-garde cinema movement in the early 20th century. She directed several experimental films, including "La Souriante Madame Beudet" (1923), which explored themes of female oppression and independence.
While the name Germaine has French and Latin origins, it has been used across various cultures and regions over the centuries, with notable individuals bearing this name making significant contributions in fields such as literature, religion, music, and feminism.
People
Germaine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Germaine 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
Germaine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Germaine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,160 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Germaine 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 66,425 US residents.
Is Germaine a common name?
We classify Germaine as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Germaine most popular?
The single biggest year for Germaine was 1972, when 250 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Germaine is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Germaine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,467 people with the name Germaine, or 2.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,299 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 Germaine 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 Germaine?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Germaine on both sides of the split. Of the 6,459 people counted with this name, 1,807 were male (28.0%) and 4,652 were female (72.0%). 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 Germaine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Germaine is Black at 46.0%. The next largest groups are White (40.1%) and Hispanic (5.5%). 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 Germaine most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Germaine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.0% (2,975 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 Germaine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Germaine a female name?
Yes, 77.0% of people registered as Germaine 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.
Is Germaine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Germaine 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 Germaine 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 are called Germaine?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.