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:
Contents
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
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
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
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! media
Eugene H. Krabs, in SpongeBob SquarePants media
Eugene Meltsner, in the Adventures in Odyssey series
Eugene Onegin, the title character in Alexander Pushkin's novel and in Tchaikovsky's eponymous opera
Eugene Pontecorvo, a character on The Sopranos
Eugene (Pokémon) or Eusine, in Pokémon media
Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy franchise
Eugene "Flash" Thompson, in the Spider-Man comics
Eugene Young, in The Practice
Eugene Dix, in Final Destination 2