Bettye
Bettye was last recorded in 1998, when 5 babies were given it; 22,967 Americans have been recorded with it between 1883 and 1998 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,390 Americans named Bettye and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (37% of everyone recorded); the median is 80 years old and half are between 74 and 85.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bettye by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Bettye?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,428, in 1998; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
763 babies in 1933, the peak
Bettye peaked in 1933, when 763 girls were given it, #220 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 5 | #14,428 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 5 | #14,009 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 5 | #13,782 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 9 | #8,812 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 6 | #11,663 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 8 | #9,338 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 5 | #12,593 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 5 | #11,487 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 8 | #7,821 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 7 | #8,427 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (102)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 9 | #6,860 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 12 | #5,490 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 8 | #7,548 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 7 | #8,204 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 10 | #6,354 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 5 | #10,363 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 8 | #7,006 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 10 | #5,926 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 7 | #7,366 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 5 | #9,204 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 20 | #3,325 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 13 | #4,379 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 16 | #3,734 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 23 | #2,962 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 25 | #2,784 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 25 | #2,652 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,466 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 21 | #2,709 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 45 | #1,670 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 54 | #1,518 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 55 | #1,533 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 60 | #1,435 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 74 | #1,284 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 77 | #1,259 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 101 | #1,069 | 0.05 |
| 1959 | 128 | #921 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 123 | #931 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 147 | #837 | 0.07 |
| 1956 | 197 | #681 | 0.10 |
| 1955 | 255 | #571 | 0.13 |
| 1954 | 275 | #534 | 0.14 |
| 1953 | 333 | #467 | 0.18 |
| 1952 | 407 | #422 | 0.22 |
| 1951 | 458 | #382 | 0.25 |
| 1950 | 480 | #359 | 0.28 |
| 1949 | 610 | #314 | 0.36 |
| 1948 | 635 | #304 | 0.37 |
| 1947 | 738 | #285 | 0.42 |
| 1946 | 696 | #278 | 0.44 |
| 1945 | 669 | #261 | 0.51 |
| 1944 | 712 | #256 | 0.54 |
| 1943 | 744 | #257 | 0.53 |
| 1942 | 742 | #252 | 0.55 |
| 1941 | 729 | #236 | 0.60 |
| 1940 | 704 | #240 | 0.62 |
| 1939 | 659 | #243 | 0.60 |
| 1938 | 727 | #230 | 0.66 |
| 1937 | 638 | #249 | 0.60 |
| 1936 | 638 | #246 | 0.61 |
| 1935 | 700 | #239 | 0.67 |
| 1934 | 740 | #232 | 0.71 |
| 1933 | 763 | #220 | 0.76 |
| 1932 | 694 | #230 | 0.65 |
| 1931 | 741 | #224 | 0.70 |
| 1930 | 751 | #224 | 0.67 |
| 1929 | 700 | #226 | 0.63 |
| 1928 | 663 | #241 | 0.57 |
| 1927 | 676 | #252 | 0.57 |
| 1926 | 603 | #274 | 0.51 |
| 1925 | 540 | #290 | 0.44 |
| 1924 | 439 | #319 | 0.35 |
| 1923 | 389 | #331 | 0.32 |
| 1922 | 241 | #427 | 0.20 |
| 1921 | 224 | #460 | 0.18 |
| 1920 | 154 | #578 | 0.13 |
| 1919 | 105 | #681 | 0.09 |
| 1918 | 110 | #685 | 0.10 |
| 1917 | 81 | #766 | 0.07 |
| 1916 | 63 | #857 | 0.06 |
| 1915 | 46 | #979 | 0.05 |
| 1914 | 38 | #958 | 0.05 |
| 1913 | 39 | #841 | 0.06 |
| 1912 | 21 | #1,148 | 0.04 |
| 1911 | 16 | #1,122 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 31 | #771 | 0.08 |
| 1909 | 17 | #993 | 0.05 |
| 1908 | 11 | #1,270 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 14 | #1,040 | 0.04 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,755 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 12 | #1,098 | 0.04 |
| 1904 | 7 | #1,505 | 0.03 |
| 1903 | 9 | #1,216 | 0.03 |
| 1902 | 8 | #1,335 | 0.03 |
| 1900 | 9 | #1,331 | 0.03 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,630 | 0.02 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,524 | 0.02 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,316 | 0.03 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,371 | 0.03 |
| 1893 | 7 | #1,188 | 0.03 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,296 | 0.03 |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,125 | 0.03 |
| 1883 | 5 | #939 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Bettye a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Bettye has been given almost only to girls: 47 boys in 102 years of records.
Girls and boys named Bettye: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bettye, and how old are they?
8,390 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 37% of the 22,967 Americans ever recorded as Bettye. The median Bettye alive today is 80 years old; half are between 74 and 85.
The 2020 Census counted 8,510 people named Bettye (8,500 women and girls, 10 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 11,504 born in the U.S. The Census count is 26% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3,770 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 276 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 86 |
| 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 Bettye born?
The states with the most babies named Bettye are Texas, Tennessee and Alabama, with 40% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Tennessee and Alabama are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 3,264 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Tennessee | 2,580 | not ranked | 4.3× |
| Alabama | 2,542 | not ranked | 4.0× |
| Mississippi | 2,283 | not ranked | 4.7× |
| Georgia | 1,640 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Arkansas | 1,383 | not ranked | 3.5× |
| Louisiana | 1,115 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Kentucky | 882 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Florida | 841 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Oklahoma | 777 | not ranked | 1.7× |
Where Bettye is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Bettye is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 4.7 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 Bettye 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 1,102,267 babies since 1880, Bettye is the fourth most given (2.1% of them). In 2025 none of their 230 babies recorded by SSA was a Bettye (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Bettye
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 Bettye and names like it
- Compare Bettye and BettyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sBettye peaked in 1933.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bettye since 1910.
- The top names of 1933The year the most babies were named Bettye.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Bettye alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.