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Bettie vs Bettyjo

American parents have registered 38,478 Betties since 1880, against 771 Bettyjos. Bettie is still ahead, with 10 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Bettie Bettyjo

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 144 years in which either name was published, Bettie for 143 years and Bettyjo for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Bettie Bettyjo
Total US births 38,478771
Most in one year 1,23331
Babies in 2025 10under 5
Estimated living today 11,000480
Median age today 7858
Peak year 19241965
Best rank 183rd girls2,110th girls
Rank in 2025 9,457thunranked
First recorded 18801920
Girls / boys 38,395 / 83771 / 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 Betties alive today are over 78; half the Bettyjos are over 58. That is 20 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: Bettie and Bettyjo.