Humanverse

Berlin

Berlin is a girl's name that peaked in 2011, when it was the 2,017th most popular in the United States. It is given to both boys and girls. In 2025 it ranked 3,780th. About 2,400 Berlins are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 15.

Popularity, 1880–2025

Births per year, 1880 to 2025 0 25 50 75 100 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

girls named Berlin boys named Berlin

Girls and boys called Berlin

Share of the name given to girls, 1880 to 2025 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

years more girls than boys years more boys than girls

Berlin crossed from boys to girls in 1989, and has stayed there for 26 of the years counted since. At its furthest it was 100% girls, and in 2025 it was 67%.

The girls’ share of each year’s babies of the name, in the 46 years in which at least 25 babies got it. The line touches the middle more often than there are crossings marked: a year or two on the other side is not a name changing hands, and only a move that holds for 5 counted years and reaches 60/40 is recorded as one. All 581 names that changed sex.

By the numbers

Total US births
3,431
Estimated living today
2,400
Median age today
15
Peak year
2011
Best rank
2,017th
Rank in 2025
3,780th
First recorded
1899
Girls / boys
1,796 / 1,635

How old the living Berlins are

Born with the name each year, and how many of them are alive today, 1880 to 2025 0 30 60 90 120 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

born that year still alive today

Of the 3,431 babies given the name since 1899, about 2,400 are alive — 70 in every hundred. Roughly 1,500 of them are children and 210 are 65 or over. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 2010 and half after.

An estimate, not a count. SSA births aged forward through SSA cohort life tables, which know nothing about who left the country or arrived in it — so for a name that mostly came to America rather than being born in it, this is a floor rather than a figure. Where you fall among living Americans.

Where the name comes from

Origin German

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where Berlin is most common

Relative to how many babies each state records, Berlin is most concentrated in Utah (6.3×), California (5.7×), West Virginia (4.1×), Kentucky (2.5×).

Total births recorded in each state since 1910. Browse names by state.

Names of 2011

The most popular girls’ names the year Berlin peaked:

All the names of 2011

Berlin by city

CityYears BirthsBest rank
Berlin boys 2017–2023 2 580th

One city over a few years, so these are much smaller numbers than the national ones above and not comparable with them.

Related names

Berlin against another name

Two names on one chart, with the year one overtook the other.

Compare Berlin with a name of your own

Try it on yourself

Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state baby-name files, 1880–2025. Counts include only births registered with the SSA, and names with fewer than five births in a year are not published. The living estimate applies SSA cohort life tables to those births; it counts people born in the United States, so it misses anyone who arrived later and anyone who has left.