Beda

Girls' name

Form of Peter

Beda has been given to 328 babies in the U.S. since 1884. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1918, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Beda, 1940

1 in 288,000

Beda over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Beda: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Peter

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Beda means

Beda is a form of Peter.

Origin, language, and formation

Beda is used in Bavarian, Old English and Slovene.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Peter.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Bavarian, Beda is pronounced /ˈb̥ɛːd̥ɐ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 328 girls were recorded with the name Beda between 1884 and 1940. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1918; its best national rank was #832 in 1890.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Beda?

Beda had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1940, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1940: 1 in 288,000; 8 of 2,302,666 births
Among girls only: 1 in 143,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1940: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 199,512 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Beda sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1940 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 199,512 children born in 1940 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Beda. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Bedas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Beda was born before 1909 — so the typical Beda is around 116 today.

Median birth year: 1909; About 116 years old
Biggest decade: 1890s; 25.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 43.3%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1890s — 25.6% of all recorded uses (84).

Is Beda rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1918 (14)
Years since peak: 107; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 37.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #832; 1890

Spellings of Beda

Beda is not the most common spelling — Brenda is, with 21.2% against Beda's 0.01%.

Brenda21.2%608,478
Edna10.3%295,116
Eva9.9%284,761
Ida6.6%187,929
Beth5.6%159,430
Vera5.2%149,456
Lena5.1%146,479
Ada3.7%106,905

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Beda by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #832; 1890
Peak year: 1918; 14 that year
First recorded: 1884
Last recorded: 1940
All-time count: 328
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Beda

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Seda Zeda Neda Jeda Vaeda Oleda Bedie Reeda Fleda Aseda Rheda Leda Oveda Syeda Oneda Kaeda Weda Zaeda Loreda Jaeda Armeda Reda Meda Valeda

Sibling names for Beda

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Winnifred Johnie Ray Maybelle Floy Garnet Mathilda Vesta

For a brother

Granville Valentine Ellsworth Orval Sol Omer Ferdinand Regis

Explore around Beda

Top names of 1918, Beda's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1890 Girls' names starting with B