Becky
A feminine diminutive form of the name Rebecca, of Hebrew origin meaning "servant of God".
Name Census estimates that about 67,095 living Americans carry the first name Becky. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Becky today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Becky births was 1959 (4,755 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Becky. 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 Becky with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Becky is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 144 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Becky have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
67K
~ 1 in 5,108 Americans
Peak year
1959
4,755 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1980 SSA rank
#4,475
Tracked since 1880
Census
Becky in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 68,254 people with the first name Becky, which placed it at #746 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
#746
National first-name rank
People counted
68K
68,254 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
22.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Becky
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Becky is White at 87.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.7%). 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 Becky 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 Becky at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.2% · 59,532
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 3,623
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 1,837
- Two or more races2.3% · 1,547
- Black or African American1.7% · 1,155
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 560
Gender
Gender distribution for Becky
Out of the 87,009 babies given the name Becky since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Becky as a male name
- Ranked #4,982 in 1980
- 7 male births in 1980
- Peak: 1963 (12 births)
Becky as a female name
- Ranked #4,475 in 2024
- 31 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1959 (4,755 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Becky appears almost entirely female. Of the 68,256 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Becky: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Becky from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 29,657 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Becky 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 Becky during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beckys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Becky, while Delaware, Rhode Island, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,636 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Becky
The name Becky is a diminutive form of the English given name Rebecca, which has its origins in the Hebrew name Rivkah. Rivkah is derived from the Hebrew word "ribqah," which means "to tie" or "to bind." The name Rebecca first appeared in the Bible, where it referred to the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau.
The name Becky emerged as a shortened version of Rebecca in the Middle Ages, likely as a result of the popularity of the name Rebecca among Christians. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Becky dates back to the 16th century, when it appeared in the form "Beckye" in English parish records.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Becky. One of the earliest recorded was Becky Ferriday (1630-1690), an English Quaker preacher and activist who was arrested and imprisoned for her religious beliefs. Another notable Becky was Becky Battle (1773-1855), an American pioneer and frontierswoman who settled in what is now West Virginia.
In the 19th century, Becky was the name of a character in the novel "Vanity Fair" by William Makepeace Thackeray, published in 1847-1848. The character, Becky Sharp, was a cunning and ambitious social climber, and her portrayal helped to popularize the name in the English-speaking world.
Another famous Becky was Becky Thatcher, the fictional love interest of Tom Sawyer in the novels of Mark Twain, published in the late 19th century. This literary character further cemented the name's association with youthful charm and innocence.
In the 20th century, one of the most famous individuals named Becky was Becky Edelman (1911-1988), an American tennis player who won multiple Grand Slam singles and doubles titles in the 1930s and 1940s. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Becky
People
Becky + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Becky 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
Becky: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Becky?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 67,095 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Becky 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 5,108 US residents.
Is Becky a common name?
We classify Becky as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 87,009 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Becky most popular?
The single biggest year for Becky was 1959, when 4,755 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Becky is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Becky in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 68,254 people with the name Becky, or 22.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #746 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 Becky 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 Becky?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Becky appears almost entirely female. Of the 68,256 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Becky?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Becky is White at 87.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.7%). 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 Becky most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Becky in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.2% (59,532 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 Becky in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Becky a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Becky 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 Becky still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Becky 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 Becky 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 people have the name Becky?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.