Humanverse

Beth vs Betzi

American parents have registered 159,755 Beths since 1880, against 40 Betzis. Beth is still ahead, with 45 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Beth against Betzi, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Beth Betzi

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Beth has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1884 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2006, when Beth had 85 and Betzi had 25.

Side by side

  Beth Betzi
Total US births 159,75540
Most in one year 6,73125
Babies in 2025 45under 5
Estimated living today 132,00040
Median age today 6019
Peak year 19612006
Best rank 65th girls5,383rd girls
Rank in 2025 3,389thunranked
First recorded 18842006
Girls / boys 159,430 / 32540 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Beths alive today are over 60; half the Betzis are over 19. That is 41 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Beth and Betzi.