Bethanee
A feminine variant of Bethany, derived from Hebrew meaning "house of the Lord".
Name Census estimates that about 183 living Americans carry the first name Bethanee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bethanee today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bethanee births was 1994 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bethanee. 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 Bethanee with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
183
~ 1 in 1,872,975 Americans
Peak year
1994
13 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2012 SSA rank
#11,409
Tracked since 1982
Census
Bethanee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 223 people with the first name Bethanee, which placed it at #35,856 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
#35,856
National first-name rank
People counted
223
223 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bethanee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bethanee is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.9%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Bethanee 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 Bethanee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.6% · 173
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 22
- Black or African American5.4% · 12
- Two or more races4.5% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 6
Popularity
Bethanee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bethanee from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 80 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
Bethanee 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 Bethanee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bethanee
Bethanee is a feminine given name with origins that can be traced back to the Hebrew language. It is a variant spelling of the name Bethany, which itself is derived from the Aramaic word "Beit Anee" or "Beit Anya," meaning "house of dates" or "house of the poor." The name is believed to have originated in the biblical town of Bethany, located near Jerusalem.
The earliest known reference to the name Bethany can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, where it is mentioned as the home of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. This biblical connection has made the name popular among Christians throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Bethanee was Bethanee de Bethune (c. 1230 - c. 1300), a French noblewoman and landowner from the County of Artois. In England, the name gained some popularity during the 16th and 17th centuries, with notable figures such as Bethanee Culpeper (c. 1580 - 1658), an English courtier and author.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the name saw increased usage, particularly in the United States. One prominent figure was Bethanee Franklin (1712 - 1788), an American author, printer, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
In the 20th century, the name continued to be used, albeit less frequently. One notable bearer was Bethanee Merriday (1901 - 1982), an American author and journalist who wrote extensively about the American West.
Another interesting historical figure with the name Bethanee was Bethanee Wilkinson (1904 - 1995), a British historian and academic who specialized in the study of medieval England.
While the name Bethanee has never been extremely common, it has maintained a presence throughout history, with individuals bearing this name making contributions in various fields, including literature, politics, and academia.
People
Bethanee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bethanee 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
Bethanee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bethanee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 183 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bethanee 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 1,872,975 US residents.
Is Bethanee a common name?
We classify Bethanee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 188 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bethanee most popular?
The single biggest year for Bethanee was 1994, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bethanee is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bethanee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 223 people with the name Bethanee, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,856 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 Bethanee 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 Bethanee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bethanee appears almost entirely female. Of the 221 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Bethanee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bethanee is White at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.9%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Bethanee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bethanee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.6% (173 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 Bethanee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bethanee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bethanee 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 Bethanee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bethanee 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 Bethanee 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 Bethanee as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.