Bettie
A feminine variant of the name Elizabeth, meaning "consecrated to God".
Name Census estimates that about 8,480 living Americans carry the first name Bettie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bettie today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bettie births was 1924 (1,233 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bettie. 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 Bettie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Bettie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 83 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Bettie is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Betties were born before 1961.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Bettie have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
8.5K
~ 1 in 40,419 Americans
Peak year
1924
1,233 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1959 SSA rank
#4,047
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bettie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,043 people with the first name Bettie, which placed it at #2,189 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
#2,189
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,043 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bettie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bettie is White at 57.6%. The next largest groups are Black (37.8%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Bettie 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 Bettie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.6% · 6,938
- Black or African American37.8% · 4,550
- Two or more races2.1% · 249
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 186
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 53
Gender
Gender distribution for Bettie
Out of the 38,468 babies given the name Bettie since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Bettie as a male name
- Ranked #4,047 in 1959
- 5 male births in 1959
- Peak: 1933 (11 births)
Bettie as a female name
- Ranked #8,505 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (1,228 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bettie appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,043 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Bettie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bettie 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 10,362 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
Bettie 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 Bettie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Betties live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Bettie, while Montana, Massachusetts, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 771 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bettie
The name Bettie is a diminutive form of the feminine given name Elizabeth, which is derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath" or "consecrated to God". The name Elizabeth has its roots in the Old Testament and is borne by the wife of Aaron, the brother of Moses.
Bettie emerged as a shortened version of Elizabeth, likely originating in the Middle Ages when nicknames and pet names became popular. It was particularly common in England and other English-speaking regions, where Elizabeth was a widely used name due to its association with various English monarchs, including Queen Elizabeth I.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Bettie was Bettie de Caseneuve, a French noblewoman who lived in the 13th century. In the 16th century, Bettie Bly, an English dramatist and poet, gained recognition for her contributions to the literary world.
During the 17th century, Bettie Washington, an ancestor of the first United States President George Washington, was born in Virginia. In the 18th century, Bettie Brooke, an English actress and playwright, became known for her performances on the London stage.
In the 19th century, Bettie Blossom, an American author and educator, was a prominent figure in the women's rights movement. She advocated for women's education and wrote several books on the subject.
Another notable bearer of the name Bettie was Bettie Page, an American model and actress who gained fame in the 1950s as a pin-up icon. Her iconic black hair and blue eyes made her one of the most recognizable figures of that era, and she became a cultural symbol of the time.
While the name Bettie has faded somewhat in popularity in recent decades, it remains a charming and historical alternative to the more common Elizabeth, carrying with it a sense of nostalgia and a connection to the rich tapestry of cultural and literary figures who have borne this name throughout history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bettie
People
Bettie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bettie 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
Bettie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bettie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,480 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bettie 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 40,419 US residents.
Is Bettie a common name?
We classify Bettie as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38,468 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bettie most popular?
The single biggest year for Bettie was 1924, when 1,233 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bettie is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bettie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,043 people with the name Bettie, or 3.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,189 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 Bettie 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 Bettie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bettie appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,043 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Bettie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bettie is White at 57.6%. The next largest groups are Black (37.8%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Bettie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bettie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.6% (6,938 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 Bettie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bettie a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Bettie 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 Bettie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bettie 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 Bettie 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 Bettie?
You can see how many Americans are named Bettie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.