Bethel
Masculine · “Hebrew bet El”
Bethel is given to both — 1,016 boys and 5,221 girls since 1880. See Bethel as a girl nameSee other names given to both
The first two letters of the alphabet are an ox and a house. Aleph was an ox, bet was a house, and the Hebrew word for house is the beth in Bethel, the place where Jacob dreamed of the ladder.
How old is the name Bethel?
Bethel first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Bethel alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 300 people named Bethel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bethel most popular?
Bethel peaked in 1898, reaching #744 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 9,951 places below that high. See the whole 1898 chart.
Where it comes from
From Bet El to Bethel
The story of Bethel
Jacob, sleeping with a stone for a pillow, dreams of a ladder with angels going up and down it, wakes and says that the Lord is in this place and he did not know it, and calls the place Bethel, the house of God. The word bet, a house, is also the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the first letter, aleph, is an ox: the alphabet is a list of things whose names began with the sounds, and alpha-beta preserves the pair. Semitic letters carry the same logic throughout, with a hand, a door, water and an eye among them. Bethel became a favorite name for chapels in the English-speaking world, especially among Welsh and American Protestants, and the chapels then named children.
Meaning
Hebrew bet El, house of God
From Hebrew bet, a house, and El, God, so the house of God. In Genesis, Jacob names the place after a dream and sets up a stone there. The name entered American use through Protestant chapel naming; the peak is 1898.
How the name formed
- Bet El
- Bethel
Related forms: Beit El · Betel
Pronouncing Bethel
BETH-uhl
Two syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew stresses the second and keeps both elements distinct.
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
- 1891
- Most boys named
- 193036 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #744reached in 1898
- Change vs 2022
- +20.0%6 in 2025, from 5
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
Bethels among us
people named Bethel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 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
Fashion outlook
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
Bethel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bethel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Hebrew meaning is exact and documented.
- Two syllables and six letters, spelled as heard.
- It works for either sex.
- It reads as female to most modern Americans because of Beth.
- It carries a clear religious identification.
- Its 1898 peak places it early in the records.
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Bethel
Masculine · #10695 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 300 people named Bethel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bethel in 2025?
- Bethel ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bethel?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Bethel — 6 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.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695 · Yancy#10695 · Waymon#10695 · Guthrie#10695 · Kermit#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bethel? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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