Birtha
A feminine name of Scandinavian origin meaning "bright" or "shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 268 living Americans carry the first name Birtha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Birtha today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Birtha births was 1926 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Birtha. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Birtha is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Birthas were born before 1957.
People living today
268
~ 1 in 1,278,934 Americans
Peak year
1926
67 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1969 SSA rank
#7,577
Tracked since 1880
Census
Birtha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 216 people with the first name Birtha, which placed it at #36,618 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
#36,618
National first-name rank
People counted
216
216 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Birtha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Birtha is Black at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (26.9%) and Hispanic (17.6%). 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 Birtha 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 Birtha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.0% · 108
- White26.9% · 58
- Hispanic or Latino17.6% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 5
- Two or more races1.9% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 3
Popularity
Birtha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Birtha from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 554 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
Birtha 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 Birtha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Birthas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama recorded the most babies named Birtha, while North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 85 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Birtha
The name Birtha finds its origins in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic people inhabiting Scandinavia during the Viking Age, approximately between the 8th and 11th centuries. The name is derived from the Old Norse word "byrðr," meaning "burden" or "load," and was likely given to a child born during a difficult or challenging time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Birtha can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of narratives describing the lives and adventures of the medieval Norse people. In the Saga of Gísli Súrsson, written in the 13th century, a character named Birtha is mentioned as the wife of Gísli, a famous Icelandic outlaw.
In the 9th century, a woman named Birtha is mentioned in the Vita Ansgarii, a biography of Ansgar, the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen and the first Christian missionary to Scandinavia. Birtha was a wealthy landowner in Sweden who provided shelter and assistance to Ansgar during his travels.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Birtha was Birtha of Denmark, a Danish princess who lived in the 11th century. She was the daughter of King Sweyn II Estridsson and married Sweyn Obbitsson, the Earl of Halland. Birtha played a significant role in the political affairs of Denmark during her lifetime.
Another notable Birtha was Birtha of Navarre, a Navarrese noblewoman who lived in the 12th century. She was the daughter of King García Ramírez of Navarre and married Theobald V, Count of Blois. Birtha was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for various religious institutions.
In the 13th century, Birtha of Marbach was a German nun and mystic who lived in the convent of Marbach near Cologne. She is known for her influential writings on spiritual matters, which were widely read and admired during her lifetime.
While the name Birtha is not as common today as it once was, it remains a testament to the rich cultural heritage of the Norse people and their influence on the naming traditions of Northern Europe.
People
Birtha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Birtha 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
Birtha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Birtha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 268 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Birtha 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 1,278,934 US residents.
Is Birtha a common name?
We classify Birtha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,973 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Birtha most popular?
The single biggest year for Birtha was 1926, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Birtha is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Birtha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 216 people with the name Birtha, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,618 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 Birtha 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 Birtha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Birtha appears almost entirely female. Of the 219 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Birtha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Birtha is Black at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (26.9%) and Hispanic (17.6%). 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 Birtha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Birtha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (108 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 Birtha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Birtha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Birtha 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 Birtha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Birtha 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 Birtha 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 Birtha as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.