Humanverse

Betsabe vs Bettie

American parents have registered 38,478 Betties since 1880, against 1,117 Betsabes. But in 2025 it was Betsabe that was commoner, 45 babies to 10.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Betsabe against Bettie, 1880 to 2025 0 400 800 1.2k 1.6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Betsabe Bettie

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 146 years in which either name was published, Bettie for 111 years and Betsabe for 35 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Betsabe Bettie
Total US births 1,11738,478
Most in one year 601,233
Babies in 2025 4510
Estimated living today 1,10011,000
Median age today 1678
Peak year 20041924
Best rank 2,711th girls183rd girls
Rank in 2025 3,389th9,457th
First recorded 19791880
Girls / boys 1,117 / 038,395 / 83

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 Betties alive today are over 78; half the Betsabes are over 16. That is 62 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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