Meaning and history
Bertha began as a short form of Germanic names containing the Old Frankish or Old Saxon element berht, Old High German beraht, meaning “bright” (Proto-Germanic *berhtaz). It was borne by several early saints, including a 6th-century Frankish princess who married and later converted King Æþelbeorht of Kent, and by Charlemagne’s mother in the 8th century, also known as Bertrada; the Normans made it popular in England. The name fell out of use there after the Middle Ages but was revived in the 19th century. It also appears in southern Germanic legend, often as Perchta or Berchta, as the name of a goddess associated with animals and weaving.
20062006: 73 births, rank #2,512
2007: 63 births, rank #2,858
2008: 45 births, rank #3,584
2009: 46 births, rank #3,512
2010: 41 births, rank #3,745
20112011: 47 births, rank #3,407
2012: 28 births, rank #4,957
2013: 28 births, rank #4,887
2014: 34 births, rank #4,269
2015: 30 births, rank #4,584
20162016: 36 births, rank #4,083
2017: 28 births, rank #4,811
2018: 28 births, rank #4,768
2019: 30 births, rank #4,546
2020: 28 births, rank #4,648
20212021: 25 births, rank #5,091
2022: 34 births, rank #4,202
2023: 30 births, rank #4,565
2024: 29 births, rank #4,669
20252025: 30 births, rank #4,546
Bertha rose from #989 to #951 for girls between 1984 and 1985. Its highest annual birth count came in 1918, with 5,051 births.