How Many People Are Named Bethany?
An estimated 95,021 people in the United States have the first name Bethany. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 35 years old, and Bethany peaked in popularity in 1987 with 3,307 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Bethany as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Bethany paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Bethany is overwhelmingly female, 184 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
95,021
About 1 in 3,607 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.8% confidence
Average Age
35
years old
Peak Year
1987
3,307 births
Total Registered
100,718
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Bethany
Bethany is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 100,718 total births registered, 99.8% were female.
Bethany as a male name
Ranked #8,220 in 2004
8 male births in 2004
Peak: 1989 (15 births)
Bethany as a female name
Ranked #727 in 2024
386 female births in 2024
Peak: 1987 (3,294 births)
Bethany: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Bethany span from the 1910s to the 2020s, covering 12 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1980s, when 29,436 babies were registered. Bethany has declined significantly from its peak in the 1980s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Bethany by Decade
How has Bethany tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Bethany by State
Birth registrations for Bethany span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in Texas, California, Ohio. The lowest are in District of Columbia, Wyoming, Hawaii. On average, about 1,925 Bethanys were registered per state.
Bethany + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Bethany as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Bethany
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
Bethany: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bethany?
We estimate approximately 95,021 people named Bethany are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 3,607 Americans share this first name.
Is Bethany a common name?
Bethany is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 99.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 100,718 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Bethany most popular?
Bethany reached peak popularity in 1987, when 3,307 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Bethany is approximately 35 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Bethany a female name?
Bethany is predominantly female. 99.8% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Bethany Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Bethany Smith, Bethany Johnson, Bethany Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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