Recorded 1890–2025 · United States
Bethel was most popular in 1922, when 150 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,077 that year. In 2025 it ranked #5,540, with 51 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 6,237 people named Bethel.
Bethel first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1890, which makes it about 135 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 135 of the 136 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 6,237 American births named Bethel between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 2,587 are estimated to be alive today.
51 American babies were named Bethel in 2025, ranking #5,540 that year.
Bethel is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 49 births a year, against 58 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -16% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Bethel is mostly a girl’s name — 83.7% of the 6,237 Americans given it were girls and 16.3% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 96% girls and 4% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 2,587 Americans named Bethel are alive today — 41% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 29 years old, and half are between 11 and 71. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Bethel on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org