Bergen
Feminine · “the mountains”
Bergen is given to both — 551 girls and 403 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Bergen is a Norwegian city built between seven mountains, and the name is simply the plural of the word for one.
How old is the name Bergen?
Bergen first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Bergen alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 500 people named Bergen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bergen most popular?
Bergen peaked in 2025, reaching #4661 nationally. Today it ranks #4661, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Bjorgvin to Bergen
The story of Bergen
Bergen was Norway's capital and its largest city for centuries, and the Hanseatic League ran the dried-fish trade from its wharf — Bryggen, which still stands and is a World Heritage site. The city is famously rainy, set in a bowl of mountains that catch the Atlantic weather. The name is also a Dutch and German surname, and its American use as a given name is recent.
Meaning
the mountains
From Old Norse bjorgvin, the meadow among the mountains, worn down to Bergen; berg is a mountain in Norwegian, German and Dutch, and gives the English iceberg and the -burg of city names.
How the name formed
- Bjorgvin
- Bergen
Related forms: Bergen · Bergen · Bergen
Pronouncing Bergen
BER-gen
Two syllables, first stressed. Norwegian gives BAR-gen.
Nicknames for Bergen
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 202529 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4661reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +26.1%29 in 2025, from 23
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Bergen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bergen in Norwegian — same name
- Bergen in German — same name
- Bergen in Dutch — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Nebraska, Minnesota.
Bergens among us
people named Bergen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 55,423 born in 2025 was named Bergen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Caylyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Bergen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Caylyn climbed just as high around 1997, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Caylyn's path sketches the road Bergen is walking now.
Bergen sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Bergen is headed
Bergen looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 38% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Bergen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bergen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning naming a real and rather beautiful city.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Six letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- It reads as a surname or a place to people meeting it in front of another one.
- It is used for both sexes, so forms may guess wrong.
- Bergen-Belsen is a heavy association for readers who know it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Bergen
Feminine · #4661 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bergens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Bergen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bergen in 2025?
- Bergen ranks #4661 among US girl names in 2025, with 29 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bergen?
- About 1 in every 55,423 US girls born in 2025 was named Bergen — 29 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bergen with classmates?
- Bergen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bergen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ellenor#4661 · Roselie#4661 · Marni#4661 · Menucha#4661 · Infinity#4661 · Lilya#4661 · Railyn#4661 · Zada#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bergen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bergen and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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