Find out how popular the last name Bertha is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Bertha.

Bertha, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Bertha surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bertha in America

Bertha is the 42378th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bertha surname appeared 512 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Bertha.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bertha to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Bertha

The surname Bertha is of Germanic origin and is believed to have its roots in the Old High German word "beraht," meaning "bright" or "shining." The name first emerged in the 8th century AD in the regions that are now part of modern-day Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

In the early medieval period, the name was often associated with the Carolingian dynasty, one of the most influential ruling houses of Western Europe. Notably, Bertha of the Amali, the wife of Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths, bore this name in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

The Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086, contains several references to individuals with the surname Bertha or its variants, such as Berta and Berte. This suggests that the name had spread to England by the 11th century, likely through Norman influence.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Bertha can be found in the records of the Abbey of Fontenay in Burgundy, France, where a certain Johanne Bertha is mentioned in a document dated 1182. This indicates that the name had also gained a foothold in parts of France by the 12th century.

Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the surname Bertha. In England, John Bertha (c. 1490-1560) was a prominent merchant and member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in London. In Germany, Matthias Bertha (1501-1570) was a Lutheran theologian and reformer who played a significant role in the Reformation.

Other notable Berthas include Mariana Bertha (1585-1653), a Spanish painter and miniaturist active during the Golden Age of Spanish art, and Pierre Bertha (1719-1788), a French architect and engineer who is best known for designing the first successful recoil mechanism for modern artillery.

In the 19th century, Auguste Bertha (1834-1898), a Swiss watchmaker and inventor, is credited with developing the first commercially successful lever escapement for pocket watches, a pivotal innovation in the field of horology.

These examples illustrate the widespread presence of the surname Bertha across different regions and time periods, reflecting its Germanic roots and subsequent spread throughout Europe and beyond.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bertha

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Bertha.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Bertha was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Bertha has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Bertha was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Bertha, please contact us.

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