Bethlehem
A town in ancient Judah where Jesus Christ is traditionally believed to have been born.
Name Census estimates that about 456 living Americans carry the first name Bethlehem. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bethlehem today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bethlehem births was 2015 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bethlehem. 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 Bethlehem with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
456
~ 1 in 751,654 Americans
Peak year
2015
24 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,631
Tracked since 1985
Census
Bethlehem in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 873 people with the first name Bethlehem, which placed it at #13,725 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
#13,725
National first-name rank
People counted
873
873 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bethlehem
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bethlehem is Black at 86.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Bethlehem 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 Bethlehem at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.1% · 752
- White5.6% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 30
- Two or more races0.8% · 7
Popularity
Bethlehem: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bethlehem from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 160 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bethlehem 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 Bethlehem during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bethlehems live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bethlehem
The given name Bethlehem has its origins rooted in the ancient Semitic languages, specifically Hebrew and Aramaic. It traces back to the town of Bethlehem, located in the Palestinian territories. The name itself is a combination of two words: "Beit," meaning "house," and "Lechem," meaning "bread." Thus, the name Bethlehem translates to "House of Bread."
The town of Bethlehem holds significant religious and historical importance. In the Christian tradition, it is believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the biblical accounts of the Gospels. This association has contributed to the name's enduring presence in various cultures and its adoption by many individuals throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bethlehem can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible. The Book of Ruth, dated around the 6th century BCE, mentions Bethlehem as the hometown of Naomi and her family. Additionally, the prophet Micah, who lived in the 8th century BCE, prophesied that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem.
Moving forward in history, Bethlehem appears in various ancient texts and records. The Roman historian Josephus, writing in the 1st century CE, referred to Bethlehem as a village in his works. The name also appears in early Christian writings, such as the apocryphal Gospel of James, which describes the birth of Mary in Bethlehem.
Several notable individuals have borne the name Bethlehem throughout history. One of the earliest recorded was Bethlehem the Illuminator (c. 330-420 CE), an Armenian monk and theologian who played a crucial role in the development of Armenian Christianity. Another prominent figure was Bethlehem of Ferrara (c. 1260-1325), an Italian Franciscan nun known for her mystical visions and writings.
In the realm of literature, Bethlehem features in the works of renowned authors. The English poet and clergyman George Herbert (1593-1633) wrote a poem titled "The Bag" that includes the line "Yet let him go, and spend his ill'paid breath, / In ruined souls, deeper than Bethlehem's bread." Additionally, the American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) made reference to Bethlehem in his work "The Adirondacs."
Other notable individuals with the name Bethlehem include Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu (born 1986), an Ethiopian businesswoman and entrepreneur, and Bethlehem Ayalew Abebe (born 1988), an Ethiopian politician and diplomat. These examples demonstrate the name's enduring presence across diverse cultures and time periods.
People
Bethlehem + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bethlehem 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
Bethlehem: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bethlehem?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 456 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bethlehem 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 751,654 US residents.
Is Bethlehem a common name?
We classify Bethlehem as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 463 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bethlehem most popular?
The single biggest year for Bethlehem was 2015, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bethlehem is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bethlehem in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 873 people with the name Bethlehem, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,725 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 Bethlehem 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 Bethlehem?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bethlehem appears almost entirely female. Of the 872 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Bethlehem?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bethlehem is Black at 86.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Bethlehem most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Bethlehem in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.1% (752 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 Bethlehem in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bethlehem a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bethlehem 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 Bethlehem still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bethlehem 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 Bethlehem 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 named Bethlehem?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.