Berkeley vs Bernadette

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Berkeley Bernadette

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

Of the 145 years in which either name was published, Bernadette for 141 years and Berkeley for 4 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.

• 1880–2009 Bernadette ahead
• 2010–2013 Berkeley ahead
• 2014–2025 Bernadette ahead

Side by side

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 Bernadettes alive today are over 61; half the Berkeleys are over 12. That is 49 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Berkeley Texas (4.5×), Virginia (3.9×), Georgia (2.4×)
• Bernadette New Mexico (4.9×), Hawaii (4.9×), Pennsylvania (2.6×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

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