Berthold
A German masculine name derived from bright and bold, meaning "bright ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 31 living Americans carry the first name Berthold. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Berthold today is around 85 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Berthold births was 1919 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Berthold. 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 Berthold is about 85 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bertholds were born before 1951.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Berthold. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
31
~ 1 in 11,056,592 Americans
Peak year
1919
18 babies that year
Average age
85
years old
1956 SSA rank
#3,995
Tracked since 1908
Census
Berthold in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 165 people with the first name Berthold, which placed it at #43,061 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
#43,061
National first-name rank
People counted
165
165 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Berthold
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berthold is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Black (9.1%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Berthold 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 Berthold at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.7% · 143
- Black or African American9.1% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 2
Popularity
Berthold: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Berthold from the 1900s through to the 1950s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 90 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Berthold 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 Berthold during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Berthold
The name Berthold is of Germanic origin, derived from the elements "beraht" meaning "bright" and "wald" meaning "rule" or "power". It can be traced back to the 9th century in areas that are now parts of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Berthold, Duke of Bavaria, who lived in the 8th century. He was an influential figure in the Carolingian dynasty and played a significant role in the expansion of the Frankish Empire.
In the 11th century, Berthold of Reichenau, a Benedictine monk and scholar, was known for his contributions to scientific knowledge and his writings on astronomy and mathematics. He lived from around 1020 to 1088.
Berthold of Nuremberg, a 13th-century Franciscan friar and inventor, is credited with the creation of the first mechanical clock. He lived from around 1200 to 1272.
Berthold Schwarz, a German monk and alchemist from the 14th century, is often credited with the invention of gunpowder in Europe, although this claim is disputed. He lived from around 1310 to 1384.
Berthold Auerbach, a 19th-century German-Jewish poet and novelist, was a prominent figure in the literary movement known as "Biedermeier". He lived from 1812 to 1882 and is best known for his novel "On the Heights".
Throughout its history, the name Berthold has been associated with rulers, scholars, inventors, and writers, reflecting its Germanic roots and the cultural significance it has held in various regions of Europe.
People
Berthold + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Berthold 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
Berthold: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Berthold?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Berthold 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 11,056,592 US residents.
Is Berthold a common name?
We classify Berthold as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 267 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Berthold most popular?
The single biggest year for Berthold was 1919, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Berthold is about 85 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Berthold in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 165 people with the name Berthold, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,061 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 Berthold 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 Berthold?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Berthold appears almost entirely male. Of the 173 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Berthold?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berthold is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Black (9.1%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Berthold most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Berthold in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.7% (143 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 Berthold in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Berthold a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Berthold in the SSA data are male. 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 Berthold still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Berthold 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 Berthold 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 Berthold as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.