Berlin
A German toponymic name derived from the Slavic word "berl" meaning "swamp."
Name Census estimates that about 2,400 living Americans carry the first name Berlin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Berlin today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Berlin births was 2011 (102 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Berlin. 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
- • Berlin started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Berlin sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 142,814 Americans
Peak year
2011
102 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,847
Tracked since 1899
Census
Berlin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,207 people with the first name Berlin, which placed it at #7,047 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
#7,047
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,207 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Berlin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berlin is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.8%) and Black (11.7%). 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 Berlin 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 Berlin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.7% · 942
- Hispanic or Latino34.8% · 767
- Black or African American11.7% · 259
- Two or more races5.1% · 113
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.8% · 106
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 20
Gender
Gender distribution for Berlin
Berlin is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,373 total registrations, 1,616 (47.9%) were male and 1,757 (52.1%) were female.
Berlin as a male name
- Ranked #4,195 in 2024
- 25 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1916 (42 births)
Berlin as a female name
- Ranked #2,847 in 2024
- 58 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (97 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Berlin on both sides of the split. Of the 2,210 people counted with this name, 723 were male (32.7%) and 1,487 were female (67.3%).
Popularity
Berlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Berlin from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 824 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Berlin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Berlin 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 Berlin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Berlins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, Utah recorded the most babies named Berlin, while Oregon, Oklahoma, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Berlin
The given name Berlin is a relatively modern name that emerged in the late 19th century. It is believed to have originated as a reference to the capital city of Germany, Berlin. The city's name itself is derived from the Slavic word "berl", which means "swamp" or "marshland", reflecting the geographic location of Berlin on marshy terrain.
While the name Berlin does not have a long historical lineage, it has gained popularity in recent times, particularly in Germany and surrounding regions. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Berlin dates back to the late 1800s, when it was used as a first name for a few individuals born in Germany.
One notable bearer of the name Berlin was Berlin Gorrell, an American baseball player born in 1890 in Indiana. He played as an outfielder for several Major League Baseball teams, including the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Browns, between 1913 and 1923.
Another notable individual with the first name Berlin was Berlin Boyd, an American jazz pianist and composer born in 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri. He was part of the vibrant Kansas City jazz scene in the 1920s and 1930s and is renowned for his contributions to the development of the Kansas City style of jazz.
In the realm of literature, Berlin Zinsser was an American writer and historian born in 1890 in New York City. He authored several books on American history and culture, including "The Book of Trades" and "The Rats of Rat Alley".
Moving into the 20th century, Berlin Eaton was an American businessman and philanthropist born in 1918 in Ohio. He founded the Eaton Corporation, a prominent manufacturing company, and was known for his charitable contributions to various educational institutions and organizations.
A more recent figure with the first name Berlin is Berlin Guerrero, a Mexican professional baseball player born in 1991. He has played as a catcher for several teams in the Mexican League, including the Toros de Tijuana and the Algodoneros de Unión Laguna.
While the name Berlin may not have a long and storied history, its association with the iconic German city and its unique sound have contributed to its increasing popularity as a first name in modern times, particularly among those with a connection to Germany or an appreciation for its cultural significance.
People
Berlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Berlin 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
Berlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Berlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,400 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Berlin 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 142,814 US residents.
Is Berlin a common name?
We classify Berlin as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,373 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Berlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Berlin was 2011, when 102 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Berlin is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Berlin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,207 people with the name Berlin, or 0.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,047 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 Berlin 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 Berlin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Berlin on both sides of the split. Of the 2,210 people counted with this name, 723 were male (32.7%) and 1,487 were female (67.3%). 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 Berlin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berlin is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.8%) and Black (11.7%). 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 Berlin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Berlin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (942 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 Berlin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Berlin a female name?
Yes, 52.1% of people registered as Berlin 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 Berlin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Berlin 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 Berlin 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 Berlin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.