Germain
Germain was given to 7 boys in 2025, #10,023 among boys’ names; 1,034 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Germain by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Germain mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Germain is “a male given name from French.”
A patronymic from a medieval given name, identical with the French one; or from an ethnic term for a German.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Germain?
#10,023 among boys’ names, 2025
Germain rose from #11,144 in 2015 to #10,023 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 3.1 to 4.1 per million.
32 babies in 1972, the peak
Germain peaked in 1972, when 32 babies were given it (27 boys, #1,700 among boys’ names). The 7 births of 2025 are 22% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #10,023 | 4.1 |
| 2024 | 6 | #11,382 | 3.5 |
| 2020 | 5 | #12,694 | 2.9 |
| 2019 | 9 | #8,415 | 5.0 |
| 2018 | 7 | #10,015 | 3.9 |
| 2017 | 7 | #10,050 | 3.8 |
| 2016 | 9 | #8,366 | 4.7 |
| 2015 | 6 | #11,144 | 3.1 |
| 2014 | 15 | #5,818 | 7.8 |
| 2013 | 11 | #7,192 | 5.8 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 8 | #9,142 | 4.2 |
| 2011 | 10 | #7,678 | 5.3 |
| 2010 | 13 | #6,475 | 6.8 |
| 2009 | 15 | #5,898 | 7.6 |
| 2008 | 23 | #4,303 | 11.3 |
| 2007 | 13 | #6,381 | 6.3 |
| 2006 | 19 | #4,743 | 9.2 |
| 2005 | 18 | #4,692 | 9.0 |
| 2004 | 9 | #7,742 | 4.5 |
| 2003 | 9 | #7,440 | 4.6 |
| 2002 | 15 | #4,982 | 7.7 |
| 2001 | 6 | #9,675 | 3.1 |
| 2000 | 13 | #5,376 | 6.6 |
| 1999 | 15 | #4,605 | 7.8 |
| 1998 | 17 | #4,072 | 8.9 |
| 1997 | 20 | #3,499 | 10.6 |
| 1996 | 13 | #4,694 | 6.9 |
| 1995 | 11 | #5,259 | 5.8 |
| 1994 | 26 | #2,795 | 13.5 |
| 1993 | 19 | #3,412 | 9.7 |
| 1992 | 24 | #2,864 | 12.0 |
| 1991 | 25 | #2,697 | 12.4 |
| 1990 | 21 | #2,995 | 10.2 |
| 1989 | 14 | #3,876 | 7.0 |
| 1988 | 18 | #3,003 | 9.4 |
| 1987 | 19 | #2,755 | 10.2 |
| 1986 | 11 | #3,964 | 6.0 |
| 1985 | 18 | #2,751 | 9.7 |
| 1984 | 18 | #2,641 | 10.0 |
| 1983 | 15 | #2,965 | 8.4 |
| 1982 | 28 | #1,949 | 15.4 |
| 1981 | 30 | #1,871 | 16.7 |
| 1980 | 26 | #2,077 | 14.6 |
| 1979 | 28 | #1,919 | 16.3 |
| 1978 | 15 | #2,837 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 27 | #1,875 | 16.4 |
| 1976 | 18 | #2,453 | 11.5 |
| 1975 | 24 | #1,967 | 15.4 |
| 1974 | 16 | #2,495 | 10.2 |
| 1973 | 21 | #2,002 | 13.5 |
| 1972 | 27 | #1,700 | 16.7 |
| 1971 | 11 | #3,034 | 6.2 |
| 1960 | 5 | #4,253 | 2.3 |
| 1950 | 5 | #3,880 | 2.8 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,250 | 5.4 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,303 | 5.8 |
| 1934 | 6 | #3,437 | 5.8 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,109 | 7.1 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,200 | 6.7 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,143 | 12.5 |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,122 | 7.3 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,704 | 5.6 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,587 | 6.2 |
| 1926 | 9 | #2,993 | 8.1 |
| 1925 | 5 | #4,478 | 4.5 |
| 1924 | 10 | #2,893 | 8.8 |
| 1923 | 6 | #3,973 | 5.5 |
| 1922 | 10 | #2,885 | 9.2 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,322 | 7.5 |
| 1919 | 8 | #3,216 | 8.2 |
| 1918 | 7 | #3,491 | 6.9 |
| 1917 | 8 | #3,039 | 8.6 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,052 | 5.9 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,757 | 10.7 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,000 | 9.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Germain a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,034 Americans recorded as Germain, 4% are girls and 96% boys. In 2025 it went to 7 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Germain: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Germain, and how old are they?
An estimated 838 Americans named Germain and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (81% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 23 and 47. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,419 people named Germain (127 women and girls, 1,292 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 844 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Germain born?
The states with the most babies named Germain are California, New York and Texas, with 97% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 109 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 21 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Texas | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Minnesota | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Germain with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 11,329 babies since 1880, Germain is the second most given (9.1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 119 babies (5.9%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Germain
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1910-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Armondo | 1,449 |
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Germain and names like it
- Compare Germain and GermanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sGermain peaked in 1972.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Germain since 1910.
- French namesWiktionary’s origin for Germain: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1972The year the most babies were named Germain.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Germain alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with GMost given first.