Betty

Where Betty comes from

Wiktionary's etymology listing comes up empty for Betty.

  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Betty through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #136 among girls, with 117 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1918
    Betty Ford born
    First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977
  3. 1922
    Betty White born
    American actress and comedian
  4. 1930
    Peak, #2
    38,240 babies named Betty, the most in any year.
  5. 1945
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #11.
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the female given name Elizabeth.
Namesakes
  • Betty White · American actress and comedian, 1922–2021
  • Betty Ford · First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, 1918–2011
  • Betty Friedan · American feminist writer and activist, 1921–2006
  • Betty Grable · American actress and pin-up girl, 1916–1973
  • Betty Hutton · American actress, 1921–2007

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.