How common is the name Betty?

382,966 people in the United States have the first name Betty, about 1 in 789. It ranks #123 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

BETTY

#123

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
382,966
About
1 in 789
This common or more
33.4%
Who bears it

Of the 382,966 people named Betty, 77.3% reported their origin as White, 14.3% as Black and 3.8% 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.

Betty peaked in 1930, when 38,396 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1930
Births that year
38,396
In 2025*
212 ▼99%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 1,004,857 babies have been given the name since 1880. 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.

Betty by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1930s, when it ranked #8. The largest share of babies named Betty, 49.7%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#2421,519
1890s#1963,196
1900s#1207,951
1910s#6644,983
1920s#9283,849
1930s#8301,840
1940s#27195,365
1950s#73103,515
1960s#20238,569
1970s#42711,770
1980s#7885,192
1990s#1,4212,638
2000s#2,5651,446
2010s#2,4141,744
2020s#2,1411,280
Before 19010.5%
Greatest Generation 1901–2726.2%
Silent Generation 1928–4549.7%
Baby boom 1946–6419.8%
Generation X 1965–802.6%
Millennials 1981–960.7%
Generation Z 1997–120.2%
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 Betty is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Betty has been most common in West Virginia (2.8×), Arkansas (2.2×), and Oklahoma (2×), and least common in Nevada (0.19×).

987,279 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 Betty

#121 Carolyn · 384,056#122 Douglas · 383,164#124 Sean · 377,127#125 Terry · 376,955

Spelled almost the same

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

#2,123 Bette · 12,626#2,747 Bettye · 8,510#16,702 Betti · 671#17,090 Bety · 651#26,764 Bett · 346#31,246 Bethy · 275#50,999 Betta · 116#52,745 Beatty · 105

Also a last name

As a last name, Betty ranks #17,307 of 156,621, with 1,598 people. See Betty as a last name

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