Bette vs Bettyjean
American parents have registered 34,919 Bettes since 1880, against 421 Bettyjeans. Bette is still ahead, with 8 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Bette Bettyjean
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
Bette has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1896 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1991, when Bette had 12 and Bettyjean had 7.
Side by side
| Bette | Bettyjean | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 34,919 | 421 |
| Most in one year | 1,742 | 21 |
| Babies in 2025 | 8 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 10,000 | 170 |
| Median age today | 78 | 67 |
| Peak year | 1924 | 1924 |
| Best rank | 151st girls | 1,926th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 10,917th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1896 | 1921 |
| Girls / boys | 34,897 / 22 | 421 / 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 Bettes alive today are over 78; half the Bettyjeans are over 67. That is 11 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: Bette and Bettyjean.