Bettina
Feminine diminutive form of the Germanic name Berta, meaning "bright."
Name Census estimates that about 4,738 living Americans carry the first name Bettina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bettina today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bettina births was 1965 (192 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bettina. 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 Bettina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.7K
~ 1 in 72,342 Americans
Peak year
1965
192 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,621
Tracked since 1903
Census
Bettina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,800 people with the first name Bettina, which placed it at #3,188 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
#3,188
National first-name rank
People counted
6.8K
6,800 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bettina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bettina is White at 67.5%. The next largest groups are Black (15.7%) and Hispanic (9.1%). 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 Bettina 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 Bettina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.5% · 4,589
- Black or African American15.7% · 1,069
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 617
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 298
- Two or more races2.5% · 167
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 60
Popularity
Bettina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bettina from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,640 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bettina 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 Bettina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bettinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Bettina, while West Virginia, Washington, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 108 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bettina
The name Bettina is a diminutive form of the Italian name Betta, which is a pet name for Elisabetta, the Italian variation of Elizabeth. It has its roots in the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath" or "God is abundance." The name Elizabeth gained popularity across Europe during the Middle Ages due to the fame of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
While the exact origin of the diminutive Bettina is unclear, it is believed to have emerged in Italy during the Renaissance period, around the 14th or 15th century. The addition of the suffix "-ina" was a common practice in Italian to create affectionate diminutives.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bettina can be found in the works of the Italian poet and literary critic, Pietro Aretino (1492-1556). He addressed several of his letters to a woman named Bettina, though her full identity remains unknown.
In the 17th century, the name Bettina gained prominence through the Italian-Swiss painter and printmaker, Bettina Gozzadina (1600-1650). She was one of the few female artists of her time to achieve success and recognition.
Another notable figure who bore the name Bettina was Bettina von Arnim (1785-1859), a German writer, novelist, and poet. She is best known for her semi-autobiographical work, "Die Günderode," and her correspondence with the prominent German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
In the 19th century, the name Bettina was popularized by the French writer and feminist, Bettina Brentano-von Arnim (1785-1859), who was also known by her pen name, Bettina von Arnim. She was a close friend of the German philosopher, Goethe, and their correspondence, published as "Goethe's Correspondence with a Child," became a literary sensation.
Another famous bearer of the name was Bettina Rheims (born 1952), a French photographer and artist known for her provocative and controversial works, including her book "Modern Lovers."
People
Bettina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bettina 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
Bettina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bettina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,738 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bettina 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 72,342 US residents.
Is Bettina a common name?
We classify Bettina as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,471 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bettina most popular?
The single biggest year for Bettina was 1965, when 192 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bettina is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bettina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,800 people with the name Bettina, or 2.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,188 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 Bettina 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 Bettina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bettina appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,807 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Bettina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bettina is White at 67.5%. The next largest groups are Black (15.7%) and Hispanic (9.1%). 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 Bettina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bettina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.5% (4,589 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 Bettina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bettina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bettina 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 Bettina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bettina 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 Bettina 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 Bettina?
Want to know how many Americans are named Bettina? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.