Beatrice
A feminine name derived from Latin meaning "she who brings happiness".
Name Census estimates that about 42,527 living Americans carry the first name Beatrice. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Beatrice today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Beatrice births was 1921 (5,994 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Beatrice. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Beatrice with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Beatrice is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 733 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
43K
~ 1 in 8,060 Americans
Peak year
1921
5,994 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
1989 SSA rank
#579
Tracked since 1880
Census
Beatrice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 58,358 people with the first name Beatrice, which placed it at #815 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#815
National first-name rank
People counted
58K
58,358 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
19.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Beatrice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beatrice is White at 48.0%. The next largest groups are Black (25.0%) and Hispanic (21.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Beatrice described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Beatrice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.0% · 28,013
- Black or African American25.0% · 14,583
- Hispanic or Latino21.4% · 12,511
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 1,472
- Two or more races2.3% · 1,331
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 448
Gender
Gender distribution for Beatrice
Out of the 195,064 babies given the name Beatrice since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Beatrice as a male name
- Ranked #5,683 in 1989
- 8 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1929 (28 births)
Beatrice as a female name
- Ranked #579 in 2024
- 518 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (5,968 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beatrice appears almost entirely female. Of the 58,355 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Beatrice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Beatrice from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 49,453 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Beatrice by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Beatrice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beatrices live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Beatrice, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,235 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Beatrice
The name Beatrice has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the root words "beatus" meaning "blessed" and "viatrix" meaning "voyager" or "traveler." It is believed to have emerged during the Late Antiquity period, between the 3rd and 6th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Beatrice can be found in the medieval Italian epic poem "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri, written in the early 14th century. In this work, Beatrice is portrayed as a guide and symbol of divine love, leading the poet through Paradise.
The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Italy and other parts of Europe. It was often associated with nobility and was borne by several prominent historical figures, such as Beatrice of Burgundy (1145-1184), the wife of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Another notable Beatrice was Beatrice of Castile (1242-1303), who served as the Queen of Portugal and is remembered for her diplomatic efforts in resolving conflicts between Portugal and Castile.
In England, one of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Chronicles of Matthew Paris, which mentions a woman named Beatrice de Humet in the 13th century.
The name Beatrice also has connections to religious figures. Saint Beatrice (292-303), a Roman martyr, is venerated in the Catholic Church, and her feast day is celebrated on July 29th.
Over the centuries, the name Beatrice has been borne by various notable individuals, including Beatrice Potter Webb (1858-1943), a British sociologist and economist; Beatrice Wood (1893-1998), an American artist and studio potter; and Beatrice Shilling (1909-1990), a British aeronautical engineer and amateur pilot.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Beatrice
People
Beatrice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Beatrice as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Beatrice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Beatrice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 42,527 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Beatrice going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 8,060 US residents.
Is Beatrice a common name?
We classify Beatrice as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 195,064 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Beatrice most popular?
The single biggest year for Beatrice was 1921, when 5,994 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Beatrice is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Beatrice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 58,358 people with the name Beatrice, or 19.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #815 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Beatrice in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Beatrice?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beatrice appears almost entirely female. Of the 58,355 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Beatrice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beatrice is White at 48.0%. The next largest groups are Black (25.0%) and Hispanic (21.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Beatrice most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Beatrice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.0% (28,013 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Beatrice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Beatrice a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Beatrice in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Beatrice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Beatrice in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Beatrice can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Beatrice?
You can see how many Americans are named Beatrice on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.