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Berenice

#4,783 in 2025Girls' name

Bringer of victory

Berenice has been given to 9,524 babies in the U.S. since 1883. In 2025 it ranked #4,783 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1995, with 326 recorded.

Babies named Berenice, 2025

1 in 118,000

Berenice over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Berenice: meaning, origin, and history

Bringer of victory

Ancient Greek

What Berenice means

Berenice means “bringer of victory”, associated with Berenī́kē.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Βερενῑ́κη (Berenī́kē, “bringer of victory”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Macedonian (compare the native word Φερενῑ́κη (Pherenī́kē)), from φέρω (phérō, “to bear, to carry, to bring”) + νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”). Doublet of Veronica.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Berenice (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Berenice is used in English, Italian and Portuguese. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Berenice comes through Ancient Greek Βερενῑ́κη.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Veronica and Verônica.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Berenice is pronounced /ˌbɛɹəˈniːs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 9,513 girls were recorded with the name Berenice between 1883 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 326 in 1995; its best national rank was #510 in 1898.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,662 in 2020 to #4,783 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,935 in 2015 to #4,783 in 2025.

In the United States, 11 boys were recorded with the name Berenice between 1993 and 1995. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1993; its best national rank was #7,721 in 1993.

How common is Berenice?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 118,000
28 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 57,400
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#4,783
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
82,069 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Berenice 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 2025 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 82,069 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Berenice. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Berenices were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Berenice was born before 1995 — so the typical Berenice is around 30 today.

Median birth year
1995
About 30 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
26.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
35.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
7,355
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 26.8% of all recorded uses (2,552).

Is Berenice 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
−1,014
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,121
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,848
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.47×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
8.6%
Peak was 1995 (326)
Years since peak
30
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#510
1898

Spellings of Berenice

Berenice is not the most common spelling — Bernice is, with 83.4% against Berenice's 4.4%.

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.

Where Berenice is used

Across 1910–2025, Berenice was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 5,263 girls, against 1 in 19,681 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

019 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 5,263
  2. 2Arizona1 in 6,250
  3. 3Texas1 in 9,091
  4. 4Illinois1 in 12,500
  5. 5Nevada1 in 12,500
  6. 6Colorado1 in 33,333
  7. 7New Mexico1 in 33,333
  8. 8Washington1 in 33,333

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Berenice has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Berenice around the world

Where Berenice ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1999–2019
    #4,001
    in 2019
  • Ireland
    1979–1979
    #523
    in 1979
  • France
    1900–2025
    #469
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1996–2022
    #2,727
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1944–1974
    #683
    in 1974

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Berenice

People whose public names include Berenice, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Berenice in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Berenice. Linked forms have their own page here.

Berenike

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Berenice by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#4,783
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,121
Best rank ever
#510
1898
Peak year
1995
326 that year
First recorded
1883
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
9,513
Count in 2025
28

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,721
1993
Peak year
1993
6 that year
First recorded
1993
Last recorded
1995
All-time count
11
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Berenice

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

BerneiceBerniceBernieceBerkleyBerkeleyBernadineBertieShaniceLatriceBerticeBerylBernettaBertriceBertaJusticeBernitaBerkleeLeatriceClariceVereniceCapriceBerlinBernadettePatrice

Names with a curve like Berenice

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Berenice, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KarliFabiolaCarlieCarliSavanahTessCaylaKaleyTiannaCarleyKarlyMariela

Sibling names for Berenice

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

Explore around Berenice

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