Bethel
Feminine · “house of God”
Bethel is given to both — 5,221 girls and 1,016 boys since 1880. See Bethel as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Bethel is a Hebrew place name that is also a sentence: the house of God. It is where Jacob dreamed of the ladder and woke saying that God had been in that place and he had not known it.
How old is the name Bethel?
Bethel first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Bethel alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 2,400 people named Bethel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bethel most popular?
Bethel peaked in 1917, reaching #632 nationally. Today it ranks #3389, 2,757 places below that high. See the whole 1917 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Beth El to Bethel
The story of Bethel
Bethel appears throughout the Hebrew Bible as a sanctuary and later as a rival to Jerusalem. The name traveled with Protestant settlement: there are Bethels across the United States, and the word became the standard name for a nonconformist chapel in Wales and among seafarers. As a given name it appears in American records from the nineteenth century and is very widely used in Nigeria and Ghana today, for women and men alike.
Meaning
house of God
From Hebrew beth, a house, and El, God; the same first element opens Bethlehem, house of bread, and Bethany. Jacob names the place in Genesis after his dream there.
How the name formed
- Beth El
- Bethel
Related forms: Beit El · Betel · Baithel
Pronouncing Bethel
BETH-uhl
Two syllables, first stressed. Hebrew stresses the second, bet-EL.
Nicknames for Bethel
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 1917116 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #632reached in 1917
- Change vs 2022
- +7.1%45 in 2025, from 42
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.
Bethel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Beit El in Hebrew — same name
- Betel in Spanish — same name
- Baithel in Greek — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.
Bethels among us
people named Bethel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 35,717 born in 2025 was named Bethel
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 Willia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Bethel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Willia climbed just as high around 1902, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Willia's path sketches the road Bethel is walking now.
Bethel 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 Bethel is headed
Bethel is easing off slowly — about 18% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium 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.
Bethel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bethel 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 that is a complete phrase, drawn from a specific and much-told story.
- Beth is a complete short form with a long English history.
- It is used for women and men, which makes it workable before a birth.
- It is a place name and a chapel name before it is a personal one for many people.
- The stress differs between the Hebrew and English readings.
- Bethel, Bethell and Bethal all appear and only the first is standard.
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What they receive
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Bethel
Feminine · #3389 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bethels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Bethel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bethel in 2025?
- Bethel ranks #3389 among US girl names in 2025, with 45 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bethel?
- About 1 in every 35,717 US girls born in 2025 was named Bethel — 45 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bethel with classmates?
- Bethel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bethel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Katheryn#3389 · Posey#3389 · Ronni#3389 · Gittel#3389 · Betsabe#3389 · Germany#3389 · Jaslene#3389 · Lovina#3389
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bethel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bethel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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