Humanverse

Betty vs Betzi

American parents have registered 1,004,857 Bettys since 1880, against 40 Betzis. Betty is still ahead, with 212 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Betty against Betzi, 1880 to 2025 0 10k 20k 30k 40k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Betty Betzi

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

Betty 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 2006, when Betty had 138 and Betzi had 25.

Side by side

  Betty Betzi
Total US births 1,004,85740
Most in one year 38,39625
Babies in 2025 212under 5
Estimated living today 329,00040
Median age today 7819
Peak year 19302006
Best rank 2nd girls5,383rd girls
Rank in 2025 1,113thunranked
First recorded 18802006
Girls / boys 1,001,238 / 3,61940 / 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 Bettys alive today are over 78; half the Betzis are over 19. That is 59 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: Betty and Betzi.