Girls' name · peaked in 1883
Bertha name popularity since 1925
78,651 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Bertha. Half of them were born in 1940 or earlier, so the typical Bertha is about 86 years old in 2026. Bertha peaked in 1883 as the #7 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 78,651
- Named Bertha, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1883
- #7 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #4,569 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.5% girls
- 78,240 girls · 411 boys
- Most popular in
- Mississippi
- 4.61× its national share
Peak year is the year Bertha 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.
Bertha births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Bertha peaked earlier, in 1883.
- Steepest fall: Between 1973 and 1978, Bertha's share of baby girls fell by 40%, from 1 in 4,610 to 1 in 7,700.
Shaded on the chart. This compares Bertha's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Bertha.
Decade by decade
Babies named Bertha 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 | 16,696 | 90 | – |
| 1930s | 21,234 | 169 | #114 |
| 1940s | 16,225 | 84 | #165 |
| 1950s | 11,251 | 42 | #239 |
| 1960s | 5,838 | 21 | #394 |
| 1970s | 2,717 | 0 | #605 |
| 1980s | 1,687 | 5 | #951 |
| 1990s | 1,400 | 0 | #1,209 |
| 2000s | 686 | 0 | #2,834 |
| 2010s | 330 | 0 | #4,610 |
| 2020–25 | 176 | 0 | #4,569 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
47.7% of babies named Bertha from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Bertha is most popular
The index compares Bertha'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 Bertha.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 4.61× | 4,246 |
| Alabama | 3.19× | 4,294 |
| South Carolina | 2.93× | 3,117 |
| Arkansas | 2.70× | 2,112 |
| New Mexico | 2.53× | 1,064 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Bertha's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Bertha.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Bertha (1883).
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