Bea
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "she who brings happiness".
Name Census estimates that about 1,219 living Americans carry the first name Bea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bea today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bea births was 2024 (88 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bea. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bea with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 281,177 Americans
Peak year
2024
88 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,150
Tracked since 1883
Census
Bea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,657 people with the first name Bea, which placed it at #6,122 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,122
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,657 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bea is White at 53.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.9%) and Hispanic (15.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Bea described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Bea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.6% · 1,425
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.9% · 476
- Hispanic or Latino15.5% · 412
- Black or African American8.4% · 223
- Two or more races3.7% · 98
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 23
Popularity
Bea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bea from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 325 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bea by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Bea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Bea, while Georgia, Florida, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bea
The name Bea has its origins in the Latin language and derives from the word "beatus," which means "blessed" or "happy." It was a popular name during the Middle Ages in various European countries, particularly in Italy and Spain.
In the 12th century, the Italian form of the name, Beatrice, gained widespread popularity due to the famous poet Dante Alighieri's muse, Beatrice Portinari. Dante's epic poem, "The Divine Comedy," immortalized Beatrice as a symbol of divine love and spiritual enlightenment.
The shortened version, Bea, emerged as a diminutive form of Beatrice and became a distinct name in its own right. Its usage can be traced back to the 13th century in various regions across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Bea was Bea of Laon, a 13th-century French noblewoman and writer. She is known for her work "Le Roman de Silence," a narrative poem that explores gender roles and identity.
In the 16th century, Bea was the name of a Spanish mystic and nun, Blessed Beatriz de Silva, who founded the Order of the Immaculate Conception. She was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1976.
Another notable figure was Bea Underwood (1916-2012), an American actress and singer who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and films throughout the mid-20th century.
Bea Alonzo (born 1987) is a contemporary Filipino actress and television personality known for her roles in several popular television series and movies.
Bea Priestley (born 1994) is a British professional wrestler currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she competes under the ring name Bea Priestley.
People
Bea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bea as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,219 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bea going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 281,177 US residents.
Is Bea a common name?
We classify Bea as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,256 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bea most popular?
The single biggest year for Bea was 2024, when 88 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bea is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,657 people with the name Bea, or 0.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,122 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Bea in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Bea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bea leans strongly female. 2,592 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 60 male bearers (2.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Bea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bea is White at 53.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.9%) and Hispanic (15.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Bea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.6% (1,425 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Bea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bea in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Bea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bea in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Bea can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Bea?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.