Eugene comes from the Greek Eugenios and means "well-born" or "noble", from eu, good, and genos, birth. Four popes and the Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy bore the name, and in America it belonged to the playwright Eugene O'Neill and gave the city of Eugene, Oregon, its name. A top 30 name in the 1920s, Eugene has stayed in the US top 1000 ever since; it stood at number 504 in 2000 and ranks number 943 in 2025.