Bertram
Masculine · “bright raven”
Bertram is bright raven — two Germanic words, one for brightness and one for the bird that followed armies and belonged to Odin.
How old is the name Bertram?
Bertram was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Bertram alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 2,500 people named Bertram are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bertram most popular?
Bertram peaked in 1895, reaching #337 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,906 places below that high. See the whole 1895 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From beraht hramn to Bertram
The story of Bertram
Bertram came to England with the Normans and stayed a standard name through the Middle Ages; Shakespeare gives it to the count in All's Well That Ends Well. German kept Bertram and Bertrand. Emigration brought both to America, where Bertram was steadily used through the nineteenth century and peaked around 1918.
Meaning
bright raven
From the Germanic beraht, 'bright' or 'famous', and hramn, 'raven'. Both elements are ordinary and the compound is transparent. The raven was a battle bird in Germanic culture, associated with Odin, so the pairing is a martial one rather than a decorative one.
How the name formed
- beraht hramn
- Bertram
Related forms: Bertrand · Bertram · Bertrando
Pronouncing Bertram
BUR-trum
Two syllables, stress on the first. German says BER-tram with a fuller second vowel.
Nicknames for Bertram
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 boys named
- 1923228 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #337reached in 1895
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
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.
Bertram in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bertrand in French — related form
- Bertram in German — same name
- Bertrando in Italian — related form
Bertrams among us
people named Bertram are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Bertram
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
Bertram 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
Bertram beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bertram in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The bright-raven meaning is concrete, vivid and undisputed.
- The raven's place in Germanic culture makes the compound genuinely interesting.
- Bert and Bertie are two short forms at different registers.
- Bertrand is the commoner form in French and international use.
- A comic novelist's most famous character carries the diminutive.
- It is strongly period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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Bertram
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bertrams are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Bertram are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bertram in 2025?
- Bertram ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bertram?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Bertram — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bertram with classmates?
- Bertram will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bertram
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bertram? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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