Bernita
Bernita was last recorded in 2000, when 5 babies were given it; 4,630 Americans have been recorded with it between 1900 and 2000 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,310 Americans named Bernita and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (50% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 58 and 75.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bernita by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Bernita mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Bernita is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Bernita?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,364, in 2000; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
117 babies in 1954, the peak
Bernita peaked in 1954, when 117 girls were given it, #887 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 5 | #15,364 | 2.8 |
| 1997 | 5 | #14,005 | 2.9 |
| 1995 | 7 | #10,644 | 4.0 |
| 1994 | 5 | #13,688 | 2.8 |
| 1993 | 5 | #13,691 | 2.8 |
| 1992 | 6 | #11,911 | 3.3 |
| 1991 | 11 | #7,477 | 5.9 |
| 1990 | 16 | #5,580 | 8.4 |
| 1989 | 13 | #6,190 | 7.1 |
| 1988 | 7 | #9,341 | 3.9 |
Every recorded year (92)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 12 | #5,952 | 6.9 |
| 1986 | 16 | #4,745 | 9.3 |
| 1985 | 15 | #4,881 | 8.7 |
| 1984 | 19 | #4,009 | 11.3 |
| 1983 | 28 | #2,985 | 16.8 |
| 1982 | 16 | #4,545 | 9.4 |
| 1981 | 26 | #3,257 | 15.6 |
| 1980 | 21 | #3,730 | 12.6 |
| 1979 | 26 | #3,153 | 16.2 |
| 1978 | 19 | #3,790 | 12.4 |
| 1977 | 21 | #3,491 | 13.7 |
| 1976 | 26 | #2,871 | 17.7 |
| 1975 | 21 | #3,276 | 14.4 |
| 1974 | 34 | #2,297 | 23.2 |
| 1973 | 39 | #2,067 | 26.7 |
| 1972 | 34 | #2,229 | 22.4 |
| 1971 | 48 | #1,828 | 28.8 |
| 1970 | 54 | #1,706 | 30.9 |
| 1969 | 48 | #1,755 | 28.5 |
| 1968 | 59 | #1,475 | 36.0 |
| 1967 | 58 | #1,460 | 35.1 |
| 1966 | 67 | #1,321 | 39.6 |
| 1965 | 67 | #1,339 | 38.0 |
| 1964 | 74 | #1,293 | 39.1 |
| 1963 | 91 | #1,147 | 47.2 |
| 1962 | 83 | #1,213 | 42.2 |
| 1961 | 73 | #1,296 | 36.2 |
| 1960 | 80 | #1,219 | 39.6 |
| 1959 | 76 | #1,224 | 37.6 |
| 1958 | 79 | #1,196 | 39.3 |
| 1957 | 76 | #1,211 | 37.2 |
| 1956 | 89 | #1,095 | 44.3 |
| 1955 | 88 | #1,074 | 45.0 |
| 1954 | 117 | #887 | 60.2 |
| 1953 | 96 | #975 | 51.0 |
| 1952 | 92 | #982 | 49.6 |
| 1951 | 88 | #995 | 48.9 |
| 1950 | 70 | #1,098 | 40.9 |
| 1949 | 74 | #1,038 | 43.3 |
| 1948 | 51 | #1,285 | 30.0 |
| 1947 | 56 | #1,205 | 31.6 |
| 1946 | 65 | #1,049 | 41.4 |
| 1945 | 48 | #1,131 | 36.7 |
| 1944 | 51 | #1,090 | 38.4 |
| 1943 | 66 | #976 | 47.3 |
| 1942 | 64 | #979 | 47.4 |
| 1941 | 55 | #986 | 45.5 |
| 1940 | 55 | #964 | 48.1 |
| 1939 | 54 | #961 | 49.2 |
| 1938 | 59 | #923 | 53.5 |
| 1937 | 50 | #993 | 47.0 |
| 1936 | 74 | #785 | 71.1 |
| 1935 | 74 | #785 | 70.6 |
| 1934 | 87 | #712 | 83.3 |
| 1933 | 89 | #689 | 88.3 |
| 1932 | 57 | #934 | 53.4 |
| 1931 | 68 | #831 | 63.9 |
| 1930 | 73 | #831 | 64.8 |
| 1929 | 67 | #868 | 60.0 |
| 1928 | 85 | #779 | 73.7 |
| 1927 | 64 | #937 | 53.7 |
| 1926 | 81 | #805 | 68.3 |
| 1925 | 89 | #784 | 73.1 |
| 1924 | 85 | #809 | 68.1 |
| 1923 | 73 | #859 | 60.5 |
| 1922 | 59 | #969 | 49.1 |
| 1921 | 70 | #885 | 56.8 |
| 1920 | 81 | #807 | 67.6 |
| 1919 | 65 | #870 | 57.5 |
| 1918 | 93 | #739 | 80.3 |
| 1917 | 51 | #979 | 47.2 |
| 1916 | 56 | #905 | 53.6 |
| 1915 | 53 | #903 | 53.9 |
| 1914 | 41 | #920 | 53.8 |
| 1913 | 32 | #948 | 51.2 |
| 1912 | 26 | #1,006 | 46.6 |
| 1911 | 18 | #1,037 | 43.0 |
| 1910 | 17 | #1,075 | 42.9 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,481 | 25.9 |
| 1906 | 5 | #1,981 | 16.9 |
| 1905 | 5 | #1,963 | 17.1 |
| 1900 | 9 | #1,330 | 30.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Bernita a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Bernita has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 92 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Bernita: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bernita, and how old are they?
2,310 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 50% of the 4,630 Americans ever recorded as Bernita. The median Bernita alive today is 67 years old; half are between 58 and 75.
The 2020 Census counted 2,555 people named Bernita (2,555 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,688 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 323 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,190 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 590 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 196 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 10 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Bernita born?
The states with the most babies named Bernita are Illinois, Iowa and Kansas, with 44% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Iowa and Kansas are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 298 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Iowa | 192 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Kansas | 177 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Michigan | 111 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 93 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 88 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Missouri | 80 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 58 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| California | 52 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Louisiana | 51 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Bernita is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Bernita is most over-represented in Kansas: since 1910 it was given 2.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Bernita with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 8,047 babies since 1880, Bernita is the most given (58% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Bernita
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Bernita and names like it
- Compare Bernita and BernettaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sBernita peaked in 1954.
- Illinois’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bernita since 1910.
- The top names of 1954The year the most babies were named Bernita.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Bernita alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.