Genevieve - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 3 syll. ge-ne-vie-ve, gen-evi-eve ] The girl name Genevieve is pronounced as JHEHNahVIYV ^KEY. Genevieve is mainly used in English and it is of Celtic origin. Genevieve's meaning is lady of the people, tribal woman. The name is of obscure origin; it could be of similar roots as Jennifer, or it could be a two-element name combining the Celtic 'geno' (race, people, tribe) with the Germanic 'wefa' (woman, wife) and thus taken to mean 'lady of the people' or 'tribal woman'. The latter derivation is unusual as it involves different languages; the name could have been heavily altered via French transmission of the original form Genovefa (Old French), which first appeared in 5th-century France. Saint Geneviève (419/422-512) was a Gallo-Roman nun who helped the people of Paris fend off the Huns and the Franks; she was later venerated as the patron saint of Paris. In a medieval legend told since the 10th century, Genoveva of Brabant was a heroine and chaste wife falsely accused on the word of a rejected suitor; she supposedly fled to the forests to raise her child and was eventually reunited with her husband. The literary revival of her story in the 19th century led to the popularity of the name in France. The name was then introduced to Britain in the same century. It was later popularized by the British film Genevieve (1953) about a vintage car of the same name.

The name Genevieve is widely used; it has 31 variations that are used in both English and other languages. English variations of Genevieve include Gena, Genavieve, Geneieve, Geneva, Geneveeve, Genevie, Genivieve, Genni, Gennie, Genny, Genovera, Genoveva (also used in German, Portuguese, and Spanish), Genvieve, Ginette (also used in French), Janeva, Jenevieve, Jenni (also used in Finnish), and Jennie. Other English forms include the pet forms Gina, Ginnie, Ginny, Jenny (also used in German), and Veva, and the spelling variants Geneveve and Genevive.

Variations of Genevieve used in other languages include the French Geneviève, the Italian Genevra, the Italian Genoveffa, the Polish Genowefa, and the Italian Ginevra. The spelling variant Genovefa (Old French, German, and Spanish) is another foreign form.

See also the related form, the English and German Jennifer.

Genevieve is a fairly popular baby name for girls, and it is also regarded as trendy. Its usage peaked modestly in 1915 with 0.286% of baby girls being named Genevieve. It ranked at #77 then. The baby name has since experienced a steep fall in frequency. In 2008, its usage was 0.050% and its ranking #325, having regained some lost ground in the recent decade. Among all girl names in its group, Genevieve was the 2nd most popular after the English and German Jennifer. In 2008, it was used 4 times more than Genevieve.

Baby names that sound like Genevieve include the French Geneviève, the English Jenevieve, the English Genavieve, the English Geneieve, the English Geneva, the English Geneveeve, the English Geneveve, the English Genevie, the English Genevive, the German and Spanish Genovefa, the Italian Genoveffa, the English Janeva, the English Jeaneva, the English Jeneva, the English Geneve, the English Genevia, the English Genivieve, the English Gennifur, the English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish Genoveva, and the Polish Genowefa.

A famous person named Genevieve is Singer Alison Moyet, born Genevieve Alison Jane Moyet, 18 June 1961, Billericay, Essex, England.

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