Bobette
Diminutive of the French name Robert, derived from the Germanic name meaning "bright renown".
Name Census estimates that about 838 living Americans carry the first name Bobette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bobette today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bobette births was 1954 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bobette. 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 Bobette is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bobettes were born before 1967.
People living today
838
~ 1 in 409,015 Americans
Peak year
1954
55 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1977 SSA rank
#6,949
Tracked since 1915
Census
Bobette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,076 people with the first name Bobette, which placed it at #11,768 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
#11,768
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,076 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bobette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bobette is White at 86.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Two or More Races (1.3%). 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 Bobette 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 Bobette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.2% · 928
- Black or African American10.2% · 110
- Two or more races1.3% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 5
Popularity
Bobette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bobette from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 429 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bobette 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 Bobette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bobettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Illinois, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Bobette, while Texas, Indiana, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bobette
The name Bobette is a French diminutive form of the name Roberta, which ultimately derives from the Germanic name Robert. Robert comes from the Germanic elements "hrod" meaning "fame" and "berht" meaning "bright." The name Bobette emerged in the late 19th century as a popular French pet name for the more formal Roberta.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bobette can be found in the 1890 novel "La Petite Paroisse" by French author Alphonse Daudet, where a character named Bobette appears. The name gained popularity in France during this time period, particularly among the upper classes as a charming nickname for young girls.
In the early 20th century, the name Bobette began to spread beyond France, appearing in other European countries and eventually making its way to the United States. One notable early bearer of the name was Bobette Lanham, an American actress born in 1911, who appeared in several silent films in the 1920s.
Another famous Bobette was Bobette Benzie, a British socialite and artist born in 1923. She was known for her portraits of notable figures in the art world and was a prominent figure in London's social scene during the mid-20th century.
In the world of literature, Bobette Mazeaud was a French author and journalist born in 1928. She wrote several novels and short story collections, including "La Femme de Trop" in 1962, which explored themes of love and relationships.
One of the most renowned Bobettes in history was Bobette Kruger, a South African track and field athlete born in 1930. She competed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in the 4x100m relay in 1952.
Finally, Bobette Douglas was an American actress and model born in 1939, who appeared in several films and television shows in the 1960s and 1970s, including "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "The Monkees."
People
Bobette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bobette 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
Bobette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bobette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 838 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bobette 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 409,015 US residents.
Is Bobette a common name?
We classify Bobette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,464 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bobette most popular?
The single biggest year for Bobette was 1954, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bobette is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bobette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,076 people with the name Bobette, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,768 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 Bobette 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 Bobette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bobette appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,078 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Bobette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bobette is White at 86.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Two or More Races (1.3%). 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 Bobette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bobette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.2% (928 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 Bobette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bobette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bobette 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 Bobette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bobette 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 Bobette 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 Bobette?
Find out how many people have the name Bobette on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.