Bert
A diminutive from Germanic roots meaning "bright" or "shining".
Name Census estimates that about 11,427 living Americans carry the first name Bert. It is a predominantly male name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Bert today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bert births was 1918 (715 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bert. 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 Bert with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Bert is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 657 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Bert is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Berts were born before 1969.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 29,995 Americans
Peak year
1918
715 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,452
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bert in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,992 people with the first name Bert, which placed it at #2,196 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
#2,196
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,992 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bert
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bert is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (6.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.3%). 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 Bert 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 Bert at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.8% · 9,451
- Black or African American6.7% · 799
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 637
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 599
- Two or more races2.6% · 309
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 197
Gender
Gender distribution for Bert
Bert leans heavily male at 98.1% of total registrations, but 657 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bert as a male name
- Ranked #8,368 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (698 births)
Bert as a female name
- Ranked #6,452 in 1960
- 5 female births in 1960
- Peak: 1915 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bert leans strongly male. 11,769 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 228 female bearers (1.9%).
Popularity
Bert: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bert 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 5,893 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
Bert 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 Bert during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Berts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Bert, while Vermont, Alaska, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 513 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bert
The name Bert is a shortened form of the Germanic name Bertram or Bertrand, which is derived from the Old Germanic elements "berhta" meaning "bright" and "hraban" meaning "raven." It is believed that the name originated in the early medieval period, around the 5th to 8th centuries.
The earliest recorded use of the name Bert is found in the Domesday Book, a record of landowners in England compiled in 1086 under the orders of William the Conqueror. In the book, a landowner named "Bert" is mentioned as holding lands in Hampshire.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Bert was Bert, Count of Andechs, a German nobleman who lived in the 12th century. He was a prominent figure in the Holy Roman Empire and played a significant role in the politics of the time.
Another historical figure named Bert was Bert Brecht, a German playwright and poet who lived from 1898 to 1956. He is renowned for his plays such as "The Threepenny Opera" and "Mother Courage and Her Children," which explored social and political themes.
In the United States, one of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bert was Bert Williams, an influential African American entertainer and comedian who lived from 1874 to 1922. He is considered a pioneering figure in vaudeville and helped pave the way for future African American performers.
Bert Lahr, an American actor and comedian who lived from 1895 to 1967, is also remembered for his iconic role as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz." His performance is widely regarded as one of the most memorable in the classic movie.
Another notable figure named Bert was Bert Hellinger, a German philosopher and psychotherapist who lived from 1925 to 2019. He developed a therapeutic approach known as Family Constellation Therapy, which focuses on exploring and resolving family dynamics and inherited patterns.
While the name Bert has its roots in Germanic languages, it has been adopted and used in various cultures throughout history, reflecting the widespread influence and migration of people bearing this name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bert
People
Bert + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bert 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
Bert: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bert?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,427 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bert 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 29,995 US residents.
Is Bert a common name?
We classify Bert as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 34,234 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bert most popular?
The single biggest year for Bert was 1918, when 715 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bert is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bert in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,992 people with the name Bert, or 3.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,196 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 Bert 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 Bert?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bert leans strongly male. 11,769 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 228 female bearers (1.9%). 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 Bert?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bert is White at 78.8%. The next largest groups are Black (6.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.3%). 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 Bert most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bert in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.8% (9,451 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 Bert in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bert a male name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Bert 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 Bert still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bert 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 Bert 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 share the name Bert?
Want to know how many people have the name Bert? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.