Berenice
One bringing victory, from the Greek name meaning "bringer of victory".
Name Census estimates that about 7,212 living Americans carry the first name Berenice. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Berenice today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Berenice births was 1995 (331 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Berenice. 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 Berenice with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.2K
~ 1 in 47,526 Americans
Peak year
1995
331 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
1995 SSA rank
#3,755
Tracked since 1883
Census
Berenice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,435 people with the first name Berenice, which placed it at #2,268 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
#2,268
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
11,435 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
93.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Berenice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berenice is Hispanic at 93.5%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Black (1.6%). 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 Berenice 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 Berenice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino93.5% · 10,690
- White4.3% · 490
- Black or African American1.6% · 182
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 43
- Two or more races0.2% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Berenice
Out of the 9,496 babies given the name Berenice since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Berenice as a male name
- Ranked #9,005 in 1995
- 5 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1993 (6 births)
Berenice as a female name
- Ranked #3,755 in 2024
- 40 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (326 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Berenice appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,435 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Berenice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Berenice from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,563 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Berenice 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 Berenice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Berenices live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Berenice, while Oklahoma, Ohio, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 235 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Berenice
The name Berenice has its origins in the ancient Macedonian language and culture, dating back to around the 4th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "phereniké," which means "bringing victory." This name was particularly popular among the ruling Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt, which was of Greek Macedonian descent.
One of the earliest known references to the name Berenice can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. He mentioned a woman named Berenice who was the wife of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, in the 6th century BC.
In the 3rd century BC, Berenice II of Egypt, also known as Berenice Syra, was a powerful and influential figure. She was the daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Arsinoe I, and she ruled as the co-regent of Egypt alongside her husband, Ptolemy III Euergetes.
Another famous Berenice was Berenice IV of Egypt, who lived in the 1st century BC. She was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes and the last queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty. She was briefly married to Ptolemy XIII, but their marriage was annulled, and she was eventually executed by Ptolemy XIV.
In the field of mathematics, Berenice is also the name of a significant ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher from the 3rd century BC. She is credited with developing the method of exhaustion, which was a precursor to the integral calculus.
Berenice was also the name of a Christian saint and martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was a virgin from Syria who was martyred for her faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Throughout history, several other notable figures have borne the name Berenice. These include Berenice Abbott, an American photographer active in the 20th century, and Berenice Bejo, a contemporary French actress known for her roles in films such as "The Artist" and "The Past."
People
Berenice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Berenice 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
Berenice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Berenice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,212 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Berenice 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 47,526 US residents.
Is Berenice a common name?
We classify Berenice as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,496 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Berenice most popular?
The single biggest year for Berenice was 1995, when 331 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Berenice is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Berenice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,435 people with the name Berenice, or 3.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,268 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 Berenice 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 Berenice?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Berenice appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,435 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 Berenice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berenice is Hispanic at 93.5%. The next largest groups are White (4.3%) and Black (1.6%). 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 Berenice most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Berenice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.5% (10,690 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 Berenice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Berenice a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Berenice 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 Berenice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Berenice 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 Berenice 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 called Berenice?
See how many Americans are named Berenice on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.