Berkeley
A masculine name of English origin meaning "meadow of birch trees".
Name Census estimates that about 2,603 living Americans carry the first name Berkeley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 69.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Berkeley today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Berkeley births was 2016 (133 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Berkeley. 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
- • Berkeley started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 131,677 Americans
Peak year
2016
133 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,382
Tracked since 1913
Census
Berkeley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,125 people with the first name Berkeley, which placed it at #7,242 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
#7,242
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,125 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Berkeley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berkeley is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Berkeley 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 Berkeley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.7% · 1,673
- Black or African American7.6% · 161
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 128
- Two or more races5.9% · 125
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Berkeley
Berkeley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,892 total registrations, 890 (30.8%) were male and 2,002 (69.2%) were female.
Berkeley as a male name
- Ranked #10,006 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (21 births)
Berkeley as a female name
- Ranked #2,382 in 2024
- 76 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (119 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Berkeley on both sides of the split. Of the 2,130 people counted with this name, 597 were male (28.0%) and 1,533 were female (72.0%).
Popularity
Berkeley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Berkeley from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,137 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Berkeley remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Berkeley 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 Berkeley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Berkeleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Texas, California, Virginia recorded the most babies named Berkeley, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Berkeley
The name Berkeley is an Old English given name with origins tracing back to the 8th century. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words "berc" meaning birch tree and "leah" meaning meadow or clearing, essentially translating to "meadow of birch trees." This name was commonly used in areas of England where birch trees were prevalent, particularly in the West Country region.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Berkeley dates back to the 9th century, appearing in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This historical record documents a battle fought in 835 AD between the forces of King Egbert of Wessex and the Britons, referencing a location called "Berclea."
In the 11th century, the name gained prominence with the rise of the Berkeley family, a noble English house that took their surname from the town of Berkeley in Gloucestershire. Robert FitzHarding, born in 1092, was a prominent member of this family and is considered one of the earliest examples of the name Berkeley being used as a given name.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Berkeley was associated with several notable individuals. One such figure was Thomas de Berkeley, born in 1245, who served as Lord of Berkeley and fought in the Barons' War against King Henry III. Another was Maurice de Berkeley, born in 1330, who served as a knight and fought in the Hundred Years' War.
During the Renaissance period, the name Berkeley continued to be used, particularly among the English gentry and nobility. One notable bearer of the name was Sir William Berkeley, born in 1605, who served as the Governor of Virginia during the English Civil War.
In the 18th century, the name Berkeley gained philosophical significance with the renowned philosopher George Berkeley, born in 1685. He is best known for his theory of immaterialism, which holds that physical objects exist only in the mind.
Other notable individuals with the first name Berkeley include the American architect Berkeley Bunbury, born in 1861, and the British artist Berkeley Sutcliffe, born in 1904.
People
Berkeley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Berkeley 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
Berkeley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Berkeley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,603 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Berkeley 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 131,677 US residents.
Is Berkeley a common name?
We classify Berkeley as "Rare". It ranks above 94.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,892 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Berkeley most popular?
The single biggest year for Berkeley was 2016, when 133 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Berkeley is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Berkeley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,125 people with the name Berkeley, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,242 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 Berkeley 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 Berkeley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Berkeley on both sides of the split. Of the 2,130 people counted with this name, 597 were male (28.0%) and 1,533 were female (72.0%). 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 Berkeley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berkeley is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Berkeley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Berkeley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.7% (1,673 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 Berkeley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Berkeley a female name?
Yes, 69.2% of people registered as Berkeley 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 Berkeley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Berkeley 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 Berkeley 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 are called Berkeley?
See how many people share the name Berkeley on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.