Girls' name · peaked in 1917
Bernice name popularity since 1925
98,680 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Bernice (98.1% girls, 1.9% boys). Half of them were born in 1936 or earlier, so the typical Bernice is about 90 years old in 2026. Bernice peaked in 1917 as the #42 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 98,680
- Named Bernice, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1917
- #42 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #4,082 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 98.1% girls
- 96,771 girls · 1,909 boys
- Most popular in
- Mississippi
- 3.64× its national share
Peak year is the year Bernice made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Bernice births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Bernice peaked earlier, in 1917.
- Steepest fall: Between 1974 and 1979, Bernice's share of baby girls fell by 42%, from 1 in 5,600 to 1 in 9,730.
Shaded on the chart. This compares Bernice's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Bernice.
Decade by decade
Babies named Bernice in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 25,970 | 486 | – |
| 1930s | 29,905 | 649 | #90 |
| 1940s | 17,032 | 356 | #157 |
| 1950s | 10,829 | 215 | #256 |
| 1960s | 6,047 | 124 | #389 |
| 1970s | 2,525 | 62 | #674 |
| 1980s | 1,489 | 6 | #1,031 |
| 1990s | 1,249 | 11 | #1,466 |
| 2000s | 868 | 0 | #2,185 |
| 2010s | 611 | 0 | #3,004 |
| 2020–25 | 246 | 0 | #4,082 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
52.2% of babies named Bernice from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Bernice is most popular
The index compares Bernice's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Bernice.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 3.64× | 4,207 |
| Alabama | 2.60× | 4,399 |
| North Dakota | 2.58× | 776 |
| South Carolina | 2.32× | 3,097 |
| Arkansas | 2.16× | 2,118 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Bernice and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Bernice (this page) | 96,771 | 1917 |
| Berniece | 4,121 | 1918 |
| Berneice | 1,411 | 1918 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Bernice's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Bernice.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Bernice (1917).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data