Bertha
Feminine · “Bright”
Bertha is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 207,870 girls against 937 boys since 1880. See Bertha as a boy name
Bertha was once among the most ordinary names in America, and the shape of a life like that is worth describing honestly: a name can be everywhere, then somewhere, then almost nowhere, without anything about the name itself having changed. This one has been carried by queens, by saints, by a great many grandmothers, and by an artillery piece.
How old is the name Bertha?
Bertha was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Bertha alive today was born around 1918, making them about 107 years old. About 38,000 people named Bertha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bertha most popular?
Bertha peaked in 1883, reaching #7 nationally. Today it ranks #4546, 4,539 places below that high. See the whole 1883 chart.
Where it comes from
From Berahta to Bertha
The story of Bertha
One Bertha changed the course of English history, and she has never had much credit for it. Bertha of Kent was a Frankish princess, already a Christian, who married the pagan king of Kent on the condition that she could keep her faith — and she arrived with a bishop in her household. She restored a ruined Roman church in Canterbury and worshipped there for years. When the mission from Rome landed in Kent, it landed in the one kingdom with a Christian queen, a functioning church and a household that already spoke the language of the newcomers. Her husband converted; England followed. The name has a gentler afterlife too: a bertha is a wide collar covering the shoulders of a low-necked dress, a garment fashionable in the last century, and the word has outlived the fashion in dressmaking dictionaries.
Meaning
Bright, shining
The Germanic element beraht means bright, and it stands inside Albert, Robert, Herbert and Bertram as well. Bertha is that element used alone, made into a woman's name — which is unusual: most Germanic names are compounds of two elements, and this one is a single word standing on its own.
How the name formed
- Berahta
- Bertha
Related forms: Berta · Berta · Berta · Berthe · Berta
Pronouncing Bertha
BUR-thuh
Two syllables, stress at the front, with the th of thick. German and Spanish speakers say BEHR-tah, without the th, which is closer to the original.
Nicknames for Bertha
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19185,051 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #7reached in 1883
- Change vs 2022
- −11.8%30 in 2025, from 34
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.
Bertha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Berta in German — same name
- Berta in Italian — same name
- Berta in Spanish — same name
- Berthe in French — same name
- Berta in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Berthas among us
people named Bertha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 53,576 born in 2025 was named Bertha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Bertha 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 Bertha is headed
Bertha should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Bertha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bertha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is clean, settled and genuinely lovely, and it is shared with half the great Germanic names.
- It is spelled the same way across most of Europe, so it travels without explanation.
- It is now rare enough among children to be distinctive rather than dated in a classroom.
- The name was attached to an enormous siege gun of the First World War, and that association is still the first one many people reach for.
- It reads to most Americans as a great-grandmother's name, and a child carrying it will meet that reaction.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though almost all of it belongs to the girls.
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Bertha
Feminine · #4546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Berthas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 38,000 people named Bertha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bertha in 2025?
- Bertha ranks #4546 among US girl names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bertha?
- About 1 in every 53,576 US girls born in 2025 was named Bertha — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bertha with classmates?
- Bertha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bertha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Amie#4546 · Rashell#4546 · Renatta#4546 · Raisa#4546 · Amena#4546 · Aryn#4546 · Nadiya#4546 · Jeanne#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bertha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bertha and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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