How rare is the name Bette?

12,626 people in the United States have the first name Bette, about 1 in 23,921. It ranks #2,123 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

BETTE

#2,123

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
12,626
About
1 in 23,921
This common or more
78.6%
Who bears it

Of the 12,626 people named Bette, 92.9% reported their origin as White, 3.2% as Black and 1.3% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Bette peaked in 1924, when 1,742 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18962025
Peak year
1924
Births that year
1,742
In 2025*
8 ▼100%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 34,919 babies have been given the name since 1896. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Bette by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1920s, when it ranked #300. The largest share of babies named Bette, 39.5%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1890s#3,14415
1900s#1,849108
1910s#6602,288
1920s#30013,285
1930s#4197,394
1940s#4927,039
1950s#8773,438
1960s#1,925890
1970s#5,706181
1980s#10,08899
1990s#19,84145
2000s#35,04317
2010s#21,46565
2020s#17,06355
Before 19010.1%
Greatest Generation 1901–2739.5%
Silent Generation 1928–4539.2%
Baby boom 1946–6419.1%
Generation X 1965–801.4%
Millennials 1981–960.3%
Generation Z 1997–120.1%
2013 and later0.3%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Bette is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Bette has been most common in Iowa (3×), Nebraska (2.8×), and Montana (2.7×), and least common in South Carolina (0.14×).

32,114 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Bette

#2,121 Kathie · 12,647#2,122 Garret · 12,629#2,124 Erwin · 12,624#2,125 Alia · 12,618

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Bette, most common first.

#123 Betty · 382,966#2,189 Bettie · 12,043#2,747 Bettye · 8,510#11,894 Beate · 1,062#16,702 Betti · 671#26,764 Bett · 346#49,963 Bethe · 122#50,999 Betta · 116

Also a last name

As a last name, Bette ranks #97,359 of 156,621, with 200 people. See Bette as a last name

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