Bethel
Derives from the Hebrew for "house of God" or "place of worship".
Name Census estimates that about 2,413 living Americans carry the first name Bethel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Bethel today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bethel births was 1922 (150 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bethel. 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 Bethel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 142,045 Americans
Peak year
1922
150 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2022 SSA rank
#3,645
Tracked since 1890
Census
Bethel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,850 people with the first name Bethel, which placed it at #5,831 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
#5,831
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,850 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bethel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bethel is White at 45.6%. The next largest groups are Black (41.5%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Bethel 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 Bethel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.6% · 1,300
- Black or African American41.5% · 1,183
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 176
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 96
- Two or more races2.9% · 82
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Bethel
Bethel leans heavily female at 83.7% of total registrations, but 1,010 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bethel as a male name
- Ranked #12,598 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1919 (39 births)
Bethel as a female name
- Ranked #3,645 in 2024
- 42 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (119 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bethel leans strongly female. 2,465 people counted with this name were female (86.5%), compared with 384 male bearers (13.5%).
Popularity
Bethel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bethel from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,221 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
Bethel 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 Bethel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bethels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Kentucky, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Bethel, while Ohio, Louisiana, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bethel
The name Bethel has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the words "Bayit El," which translates to "House of God." It is a biblical name with deep religious significance, particularly in Judaism and Christianity.
The name Bethel first appears in the Book of Genesis, where it is mentioned as the place where the patriarch Jacob had a vision of a ladder reaching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. After this vision, Jacob renamed the place Bethel, which was originally called Luz. This event is considered one of the most significant in the Hebrew Bible and has been the subject of numerous artistic depictions throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Bethel was Bethel the Gileadite, mentioned in the Book of Judges. He was a judge and military leader who ruled over the Israelites in the 12th century BCE. Another notable figure was Bethel of Idumea, a Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in the 1st century CE and is mentioned in the Talmud.
In the early Christian era, the name Bethel was associated with a town in Palestine that was an important center of Christian pilgrimage. The town was believed to be the site of the biblical Bethel, and many churches and monasteries were built there during the Byzantine period.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Bethel was Bethel Henry Strousberg (1823-1884), a German-Jewish financier and entrepreneur who played a significant role in the development of the German railway system in the 19th century. His ambitious projects and eventual financial troubles were widely publicized at the time.
Another notable person was Bethel Sookhdeo (1939-2014), a Christian evangelist and author from Guyana who founded the Barnabas Fund, a charity organization that supports persecuted Christian minorities around the world. He was a prominent figure in the global Christian community and wrote several books on religious persecution and interfaith dialogue.
In the realm of literature, one cannot overlook Bethel Moore (1880-1952), an American writer and poet who was part of the Harlem Renaissance movement. Her works, which often explored themes of racial identity and social injustice, were widely acclaimed and helped to promote the voices of African American writers during that era.
Lastly, Bethel Leslie Solomons (1885-1965) was a South African businessman and philanthropist who made significant contributions to the development of the diamond industry in South Africa. He was also a prominent figure in the Jewish community and supported various educational and charitable organizations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bethel
People
Bethel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bethel 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
Bethel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bethel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,413 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bethel 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 142,045 US residents.
Is Bethel a common name?
We classify Bethel as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,186 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bethel most popular?
The single biggest year for Bethel was 1922, when 150 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bethel is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bethel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,850 people with the name Bethel, or 0.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,831 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 Bethel 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 Bethel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bethel leans strongly female. 2,465 people counted with this name were female (86.5%), compared with 384 male bearers (13.5%). 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 Bethel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bethel is White at 45.6%. The next largest groups are Black (41.5%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Bethel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bethel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.6% (1,300 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 Bethel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bethel a female name?
Yes, 83.7% of people registered as Bethel 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 Bethel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bethel 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 Bethel 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 Bethel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.