Bethaney
An ancient name of Hebrew origin, possibly meaning "house of dates or figs".
Name Census estimates that about 603 living Americans carry the first name Bethaney. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bethaney today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bethaney births was 1990 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bethaney. 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
603
~ 1 in 568,415 Americans
Peak year
1990
43 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2014 SSA rank
#16,969
Tracked since 1965
Popularity
Bethaney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bethaney from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 220 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bethaney 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 Bethaney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bethaneys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bethaney
The name Bethaney is an English feminine given name derived from the Hebrew place name Bethany, which means "house of dates" or "house of misery." It is a variant spelling of the more common name Bethany.
Bethany was a village near Jerusalem, located on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives. It is mentioned several times in the New Testament of the Bible as the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. The village was also the site of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
The earliest recorded usage of the name Bethaney can be traced back to the late 16th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Bethaney Langley, who was born in 1592 in Nottinghamshire, England.
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals named Bethaney. Bethaney Revell was an English actress who lived in the 17th century and performed in various plays in London. Bethaney Wallington was a British writer and poet who published several works in the 18th century.
In the 19th century, Bethaney Merrifield was a notable English botanist and naturalist who specialized in the study of seaweeds. She published several influential works on the subject and was a pioneering figure in the field of phycology.
Bethaney Whilton was an American suffragette and women's rights activist who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She campaigned tirelessly for women's right to vote and was a prominent figure in the suffrage movement.
In more recent times, Bethaney Petersen was an American actress and model who appeared in several films and television shows in the mid-20th century. She was known for her roles in various westerns and action movies.
While the name Bethaney has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it has a rich cultural and biblical heritage, with its roots firmly grounded in the New Testament and the life of Jesus Christ.
People
Bethaney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bethaney 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
Bethaney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bethaney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 603 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bethaney 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 568,415 US residents.
Is Bethaney a common name?
We classify Bethaney as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 632 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bethaney most popular?
The single biggest year for Bethaney was 1990, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bethaney is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Bethaney a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bethaney 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.
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.