Bertina
A feminine diminutive form of the German name Bertha, meaning "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 687 living Americans carry the first name Bertina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bertina today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bertina births was 1971 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bertina. 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.
People living today
687
~ 1 in 498,915 Americans
Peak year
1971
31 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2005 SSA rank
#16,872
Tracked since 1882
Census
Bertina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,014 people with the first name Bertina, which placed it at #12,310 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
#12,310
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,014 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
38.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bertina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bertina is Black at 38.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.1%) and White (21.8%). 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 Bertina 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 Bertina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American38.8% · 393
- Hispanic or Latino27.1% · 275
- White21.8% · 221
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.1% · 52
- Two or more races2.1% · 21
Popularity
Bertina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bertina from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 244 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bertina 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 Bertina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bertinas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bertina
The name Bertina is derived from the Germanic root "Bert", which means "bright" or "shining". This root can be traced back to the Old High German "beraht" and the Proto-Germanic "berhto". The name is believed to have originated in the 8th or 9th century among the Frankish and Teutonic tribes of central Europe.
Bertina was a popular name during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions now known as Germany, France, and the Low Countries. It was often a variation of the more common masculine name Bertram or Bertrand. The earliest recorded example of the name Bertina dates back to the 11th century, when it appeared in a medieval German chronicle.
In the 12th century, a noblewoman named Bertina of Andlau (c. 1100-1160) was abbess of the influential Andlau Abbey in Alsace, France. She was known for her piety and leadership during a period of monastic reform.
Another notable figure was Bertina of Merania (c. 1200-1241), a German countess and the wife of Duke Otto VII of Merania. She was involved in the political affairs of her time and played a role in the administration of her husband's lands.
During the Renaissance, a Italian scholar and poet named Bertina Lami (1508-1568) gained recognition for her contributions to the literary circle of the Medici family in Florence. Her works include poetry and translations of classical texts.
In the 17th century, Bertina Henrietta of Anhalt (1609-1666) was a German princess and abbess of the Herford Abbey in Westphalia. She was known for her involvement in the religious and cultural life of her region.
Another noteworthy individual was Bertina Maria Gozzadina (1632-1703), an Italian nun and mystic from Bologna. She was known for her spiritual writings and visions, which were recorded and studied by her contemporaries.
People
Bertina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bertina 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
Bertina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bertina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 687 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bertina 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 498,915 US residents.
Is Bertina a common name?
We classify Bertina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,234 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bertina most popular?
The single biggest year for Bertina was 1971, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bertina is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bertina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,014 people with the name Bertina, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,310 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 Bertina 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 Bertina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bertina appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,010 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Bertina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bertina is Black at 38.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.1%) and White (21.8%). 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 Bertina most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Bertina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.8% (393 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 Bertina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bertina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bertina 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 Bertina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bertina 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 Bertina 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 Bertina?
Find out how many Americans are named Bertina on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.