Bethanie
Feminine · “house of figs”
Beth is Hebrew for house, and it opens a row of places rather than people: Bethlehem, the house of bread; Bethel, the house of God; Bethesda, the house of mercy; Bethany, the village where Lazarus lived. Bethanie is a girl named after a place, and the place is named after a household.
How old is the name Bethanie?
Bethanie first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Bethanie alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 3,600 people named Bethanie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bethanie most popular?
Bethanie peaked in 1987, reaching #1227 nationally. Today it ranks #10917, 9,690 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Bethania to Bethanie
The story of Bethanie
Bethany is a village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem, and the Gospels place a good deal there: it is where Lazarus, Martha and Mary lived, and where Jesus stayed in the last week. It stayed a place name for eighteen centuries. Then English-speaking Protestants, who had long taken personal names from the Hebrew Bible, began taking place names too — Bethany, Bethel, Salem, Shiloh, Zion, Eden — and Bethany turned out to be the one that worked best on a girl. The -ie spelling is an American ending applied afterwards, the same one that turns Stephanie into Stephanie and Melanie into Melany depending on the decade.
Meaningscholars disagree
house of figs, or house of the poor
Bethany is a place name and its second element is disputed. Beth-te'enah gives house of figs, which suits a village on the fig-growing side of the Mount of Olives. Beth-ani gives house of the poor or house of affliction, and an early tradition connects the village with a hospice. Both readings are serious and neither has won.
How the name formed
- Bethania
- Bethany
- Bethanie
Related forms: Betania · Bethania
Pronouncing Bethanie
BETH-uh-nee
Three syllables, stress on the first, with the th of think rather than of this. The -ie ending changes nothing you can hear.
Nicknames for Bethanie
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
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 1991131 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1227reached in 1987
- Change vs 2023
- −42.9%8 in 2025, from 14
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.
Bethanie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Betania in Spanish — same name
- Bethania in Latin — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California.
Bethanies among us
people named Bethanie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 200,908 born in 2025 was named Bethanie
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 Page test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Bethanie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Page climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Page's path sketches the road Bethanie is walking now.
Bethanie 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
Bethanie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bethanie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A real place with a documented history, which is more than most place names used as names can offer.
- Beth works at once and is a name in its own right.
- Three syllables that fall into an easy rhythm in front of almost any surname.
- Bethany is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- Beth is shared with Elizabeth, so most people will assume that is the full name.
- The meaning is genuinely contested, so there are two answers to give rather than one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Bethanie
Feminine · #10917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bethanies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Bethanie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bethanie in 2025?
- Bethanie ranks #10917 among US girl names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bethanie?
- About 1 in every 200,908 US girls born in 2025 was named Bethanie — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bethanie with classmates?
- Bethanie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bethanie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Edythe#10917 · Tessie#10917 · Drusilla#10917 · Eugenie#10917 · Ivah#10917 · Karri#10917 · Claribel#10917 · Myrtle#10917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bethanie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bethanie and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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