Bethanny
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from Elizabeth.
Name Census estimates that about 234 living Americans carry the first name Bethanny. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bethanny today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bethanny births was 2011 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bethanny. 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
234
~ 1 in 1,464,762 Americans
Peak year
2011
20 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2018 SSA rank
#16,076
Tracked since 1982
Census
Bethanny in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 291 people with the first name Bethanny, which placed it at #30,113 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
#30,113
National first-name rank
People counted
291
291 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bethanny
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bethanny is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.1%) and Black (6.5%). 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 Bethanny 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 Bethanny at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.8% · 177
- Hispanic or Latino24.1% · 70
- Black or African American6.5% · 19
- Two or more races4.1% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 5
Popularity
Bethanny: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bethanny from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 87 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bethanny 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 Bethanny during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bethannys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bethanny
The name Bethanny is a variant of the Hebrew name Bethany, which is derived from the Aramaic phrase "Beit Anya," meaning "house of affliction" or "house of poverty." This name is associated with the biblical village of Bethany, located on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem.
The earliest recorded use of the name Bethany can be traced back to the New Testament of the Bible, where it is mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is the name of the village where Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus resided, and where Jesus often visited and performed miracles, such as raising Lazarus from the dead.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Bethanny was Bethanny Bowers, an English Quaker who lived in the 17th century. She was born around 1640 and was known for her religious writings and activism.
In the 18th century, Bethanny Wallis was a prominent English writer and poet. She was born in 1725 and published several collections of poetry and essays during her lifetime.
During the 19th century, Bethanny Harrington was a notable American educator and advocate for women's rights. She was born in 1812 and founded several schools for young women in New England.
Another notable figure with the name Bethanny was Bethanny Stowe, an American author and abolitionist who lived in the 19th century. She was born in 1811 and is best known for her influential anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," published in 1852.
In the 20th century, Bethanny Wilcox was an American artist and sculptor. She was born in 1915 and gained recognition for her abstract and modernist works, which were featured in various exhibitions and galleries across the United States.
While the name Bethanny has its roots in Hebrew and Aramaic, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and societies throughout history, with each individual carrying the name contributing to its rich tapestry of meaning and significance.
People
Bethanny + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bethanny 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
Bethanny: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bethanny?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bethanny 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 1,464,762 US residents.
Is Bethanny a common name?
We classify Bethanny as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 239 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bethanny most popular?
The single biggest year for Bethanny was 2011, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bethanny is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bethanny in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 291 people with the name Bethanny, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,113 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 Bethanny 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 Bethanny?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bethanny appears almost entirely female. Of the 284 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Bethanny?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bethanny is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.1%) and Black (6.5%). 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 Bethanny most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bethanny in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (177 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 Bethanny in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bethanny a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bethanny 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 Bethanny still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bethanny 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 Bethanny 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 the name Bethanny?
Find out how many people share the name Bethanny on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.