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Bettey vs Bettie

American parents have registered 38,478 Betties since 1880, against 119 Betteys. Bettie is still ahead, with 10 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Bettey 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

Bettie has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1960, when Bettey had 5 and Bettie had 174.

Side by side

  Bettey Bettie
Total US births 11938,478
Most in one year 91,233
Babies in 2025 under 510
Estimated living today 3011,000
Median age today 7778
Peak year 19221924
Best rank 3,379th girls183rd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked9,457th
First recorded 19221880
Girls / boys 119 / 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.

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