Berdie
A feminine English pet form of Bertha, meaning "bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 132 living Americans carry the first name Berdie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Berdie today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Berdie births was 1919 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Berdie. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Berdie is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Berdies were born before 1954.
People living today
132
~ 1 in 2,596,624 Americans
Peak year
1919
29 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1960 SSA rank
#4,801
Tracked since 1881
Census
Berdie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 230 people with the first name Berdie, which placed it at #35,134 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
#35,134
National first-name rank
People counted
230
230 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Berdie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berdie is Black at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (40.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.9%). 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 Berdie 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 Berdie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.0% · 115
- White40.0% · 92
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.9% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 7
- Two or more races1.7% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Berdie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Berdie from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 236 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Berdie 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 Berdie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Berdies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Berdie, while North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Berdie
The name Berdie is a diminutive form of the given name Bertha, which is derived from the Germanic element "beraht," meaning "bright" or "brilliant." The name has its roots in the Old High German language and can be traced back to the 8th century AD.
Berdie gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions where Germanic languages were spoken, such as Germany, England, and the Netherlands. The name was often associated with nobility and royalty, as evidenced by its usage among the aristocracy of the time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Berdie appears in the Domesday Book, a survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions a woman named Berdie who held land in Gloucestershire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Berdie. One of the most famous was Berdie, also known as Bertha of Burgundy (1092-1115), the wife of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile. Another notable figure was Berdie von Suttner (1843-1914), an Austrian writer and pacifist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905.
In the literary realm, Berdie Morisot (1841-1895) was a prominent French painter and a member of the Impressionist movement, known for her works depicting domestic scenes and portraits. Additionally, Berdie Brainerd (1889-1979) was an American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway productions and films during the early 20th century.
The name Berdie also has connections to the world of sports. Berdie Layden (1913-1986) was an American basketball player and coach who led the Oklahoma State University women's basketball team to several championship titles in the 1950s and 1960s.
While the name Berdie has fallen out of widespread use in recent times, it remains a part of historical records and serves as a reminder of the rich cultural heritage and linguistic diversity that have shaped the naming traditions of various societies.
People
Berdie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Berdie 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
Berdie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Berdie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 132 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Berdie 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 2,596,624 US residents.
Is Berdie a common name?
We classify Berdie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,114 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Berdie most popular?
The single biggest year for Berdie was 1919, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Berdie is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Berdie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 230 people with the name Berdie, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,134 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 Berdie 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 Berdie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Berdie appears almost entirely female. Of the 227 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Berdie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berdie is Black at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (40.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.9%). 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 Berdie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Berdie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (115 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 Berdie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Berdie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Berdie 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 Berdie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Berdie 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 Berdie 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 have Berdie as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Berdie, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.