Bertram
Of German origin, meaning "bright raven" or "bright bear".
Name Census estimates that about 2,699 living Americans carry the first name Bertram. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bertram today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bertram births was 1923 (228 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bertram. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bertram with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.7K
~ 1 in 126,993 Americans
Peak year
1923
228 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,806
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bertram in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,119 people with the first name Bertram, which placed it at #5,491 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
#5,491
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,119 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bertram
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bertram is White at 52.5%. The next largest groups are Black (36.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Bertram 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 Bertram at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.5% · 1,636
- Black or African American36.6% · 1,140
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 154
- Two or more races2.8% · 88
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 27
Popularity
Bertram: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bertram from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,942 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
Bertram 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 Bertram during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bertrams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Bertram, while Virginia, Rhode Island, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 153 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bertram
The name Bertram originates from the Germanic languages, deriving from the elements "beraht" meaning "bright" and "hraban" meaning "raven". It emerged during the medieval period across various Germanic cultures and regions. The earliest recorded spelling was "Berahtram" in Old High German.
An early historical reference to the name appears in the 9th century Latin chronicle "Vita Hludovici Imperatoris" by the Frankish scholar Thegan of Trier. He mentions a Count Bertram who served as a courtier under the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious in the early 800s.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Bertram the Elder, Count of Toulouse, who lived from around 850 to 896 AD. He was a powerful nobleman and military leader in the Carolingian Empire during the reign of Charles the Bald.
In the 11th century, Bertram of Aquitaine (1000-1088) was a renowned scholar and theologian who served as the head of the school at the Abbey of Aurillac in France. His writings on theology and philosophy were influential during the medieval period.
Another notable historical figure was Bertram de Born (1140-1215), a French nobleman and troubadour from the Aquitaine region. He is renowned for his sirventes, a form of satirical poetry, and his participation in the conflicts between Henry II of England and his sons.
In England, Bertram de Verdun (1190-1245) was a prominent baronial leader during the reign of King John and the early years of Henry III. He played a key role in the negotiations that led to the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who bore the name Bertram, reflecting its long-standing use across various cultures and regions, particularly in medieval Europe.
People
Bertram + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bertram 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
Bertram: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bertram?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,699 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bertram 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 126,993 US residents.
Is Bertram a common name?
We classify Bertram as "Rare". It ranks above 94.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,946 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bertram most popular?
The single biggest year for Bertram was 1923, when 228 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bertram is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bertram in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,119 people with the name Bertram, or 1.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,491 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 Bertram 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 Bertram?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bertram appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,109 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Bertram?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bertram is White at 52.5%. The next largest groups are Black (36.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Bertram most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bertram in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.5% (1,636 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 Bertram in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bertram a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bertram 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 Bertram still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bertram 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 Bertram 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 Americans are named Bertram?
Want to know how many Americans are named Bertram? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.