Beulah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "married woman" or "wife".
Name Census estimates that about 6,454 living Americans carry the first name Beulah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Beulah today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Beulah births was 1916 (2,408 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Beulah. 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 Beulah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Beulah is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 213 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Beulah is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Beulahs were born before 1959.
- • Compared to the 1910s, recent registration numbers for Beulah have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
6.5K
~ 1 in 53,107 Americans
Peak year
1916
2,408 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1938 SSA rank
#3,571
Tracked since 1880
Census
Beulah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,271 people with the first name Beulah, which placed it at #2,592 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
#2,592
National first-name rank
People counted
9.3K
9,271 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Beulah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beulah is White at 60.5%. The next largest groups are Black (32.3%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Beulah 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 Beulah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.5% · 5,605
- Black or African American32.3% · 2,999
- Two or more races2.4% · 219
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 211
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 124
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 113
Gender
Gender distribution for Beulah
Out of the 73,445 babies given the name Beulah since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Beulah as a male name
- Ranked #3,571 in 1938
- 5 male births in 1938
- Peak: 1915 (14 births)
Beulah as a female name
- Ranked #5,028 in 2024
- 26 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1916 (2,401 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beulah appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,271 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Beulah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Beulah from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 18,949 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Beulah 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 Beulah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beulahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia recorded the most babies named Beulah, while Arizona, District of Columbia, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,090 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Beulah
The name Beulah is derived from the Hebrew word "ba'alah", which means "married" or "possessed". It is thought to have originated in ancient Israel during biblical times. The name was first mentioned in the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, where it was used as a symbolic name for the land of Israel.
In the biblical context, the name Beulah was used to represent the idea of a land that was once desolate but had been reclaimed and restored to its former glory. This symbolism was meant to convey the idea of God's favor and blessing upon the land and its people.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Beulah being used as a personal name dates back to the 17th century. In 1628, Beulah Dowse was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, one of the earliest English settlements in North America.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Beulah. One such person was Beulah Henry (1887-1973), an American educator and social activist who worked to promote equal rights for African Americans and women. She was also a founding member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Another famous Beulah was Beulah Annan (1899-1928), an American silent film actress who appeared in over 40 films during the 1920s. She was known for her roles in comedies and dramas and was considered a rising star before her untimely death at the age of 29.
In the world of literature, Beulah was the name of the protagonist in the novel "Beulah Land" by Lonnie Coleman, published in 1973. The book explored themes of racial discrimination and the struggles faced by African Americans in the rural South during the mid-20th century.
Another notable Beulah was Beulah Brinton (1836-1915), an American Quaker minister and activist who worked to promote women's rights and the abolition of slavery. She was also a pioneer in the field of humanitarian aid, organizing relief efforts during the American Civil War.
Beulah Louise Henry (1887-1973) was an American educator and activist who played a significant role in promoting equal rights for African Americans and women. She was a founding member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, one of the first Greek-letter organizations for African American women.
People
Beulah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Beulah 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
Beulah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Beulah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,454 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Beulah 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 53,107 US residents.
Is Beulah a common name?
We classify Beulah as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 73,445 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Beulah most popular?
The single biggest year for Beulah was 1916, when 2,408 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Beulah is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Beulah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,271 people with the name Beulah, or 3.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,592 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 Beulah 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 Beulah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beulah appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,271 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 Beulah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beulah is White at 60.5%. The next largest groups are Black (32.3%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Beulah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Beulah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.5% (5,605 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 Beulah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Beulah a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Beulah 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 Beulah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Beulah 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 Beulah 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 Beulah?
You can see how many Americans are named Beulah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.