Given name & surname
Gen
“born during the spring”
Gen is used as a given name and a surname. One Japanese interpretation is “born during the spring.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Japanese interpretation is “born during the spring.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Japanese.
How it developed
In English usage, Gen is a short form of Genevieve.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1924. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Gen through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 79
- 67 boys · 12 girls
- Most popular year
- 1995
- 7 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2006. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,141 as a first name in 2020; 145 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Gen’s family of names
In English usage, Gen is a diminutive of Eugene. In Greek usage, Gen as a surname is a transliteration of Γεν. In English usage, Gen is a short form of Genevieve.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Gen
- Gen HoshinoJapanese singer-songwriter, actor, writer, radio personalityborn 1981
- Gen UrobuchiJapanese writer of visual novels, light novels, and animeborn 1972
- Gen NakataniJapanese politicianborn 1957
- Shō Gen5th king of the Ryukyu Kingdom1528–1572
- Gen KitchenBritish Labour politician (born 1995)
- Gen NakamuraJapanese footballer (1978-)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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