Bee
A diminutive form of names like Beatrice or Beatrix meaning "she who brings happiness".
Name Census estimates that about 725 living Americans carry the first name Bee. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Bee today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bee births was 1990 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bee. 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 Bee with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Bee sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
725
~ 1 in 472,765 Americans
Peak year
1990
48 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2000 SSA rank
#9,206
Tracked since 1881
Census
Bee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,382 people with the first name Bee, which placed it at #5,163 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
#5,163
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,382 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
63.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bee is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.9%. The next largest groups are White (18.7%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Bee 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 Bee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander63.9% · 2,160
- White18.7% · 634
- Black or African American10.6% · 358
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 168
- Two or more races1.5% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Bee
Bee is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,692 total registrations, 1,023 (60.5%) were male and 669 (39.5%) were female.
Bee as a male name
- Ranked #9,206 in 2000
- 6 male births in 2000
- Peak: 1991 (41 births)
Bee as a female name
- Ranked #11,226 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1917 (27 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bee on both sides of the split. Of the 3,384 people counted with this name, 1,724 were male (50.9%) and 1,660 were female (49.1%).
Popularity
Bee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bee from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 324 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bee 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 Bee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Wisconsin, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Bee, while Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 92 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bee
The given name Bee is believed to have originated from the Old English word "beo" or "bī," which means "bee." This name likely emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th century AD. It was likely used as a nickname or a shortened form of longer names containing the word "bee," such as Beatrice or Bernice.
The name Bee may have been inspired by the industrious nature of bees and their association with sweetness and honey. In some cultures, bees were revered for their role in pollination and their symbolism of diligence, community, and fertility.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bee can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of land and property commissioned in 1086 by William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Bea" or "Bea filia Wigot," referring to a woman named Bea, the daughter of Wigot.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Bee. One of the most famous was Bee Aylwin (c. 1024 - c. 1099), an English noblewoman and landowner during the Norman conquest of England. She was a prominent figure in the Domesday Book and held significant landholdings in Warwickshire and Gloucestershire.
Another notable Bee was Bee Nilson (1848 - 1923), a Swedish writer and editor who co-founded the influential Swedish women's magazine Idun. She was a pioneer in the Swedish women's rights movement and advocated for women's education and participation in public life.
In the realm of literature, Bee Browning (1914 - 1998) was an American author and poet known for her works exploring themes of nature, spirituality, and the human condition. Her collections of poetry, such as "The Dawnmakers" and "The Flesh of Word," garnered critical acclaim.
In the world of sports, Bee Selby (1892 - 1973) was a pioneering English sportswoman who excelled in various disciplines, including tennis, golf, and lacrosse. She represented Great Britain in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, and won several national and international titles in her career.
Lastly, Bee Legge (1875 - 1947) was a British artist and illustrator known for her enchanting illustrations in children's books. Her whimsical depictions of fairies, elves, and other fantastical creatures captivated generations of readers and influenced the artistic style of her time.
People
Bee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bee 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
Bee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 725 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bee 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 472,765 US residents.
Is Bee a common name?
We classify Bee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,692 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bee most popular?
The single biggest year for Bee was 1990, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bee is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,382 people with the name Bee, or 1.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,163 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 Bee 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 Bee?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bee on both sides of the split. Of the 3,384 people counted with this name, 1,724 were male (50.9%) and 1,660 were female (49.1%). 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 Bee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bee is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.9%. The next largest groups are White (18.7%) and Black (10.6%). 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 Bee most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Bee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.9% (2,160 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 Bee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bee a male name?
Yes, 60.5% of people registered as Bee in the SSA data are male. 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 Bee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bee 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 Bee 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 are named Bee?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.