Betz
surname · Latin script
Meaning: from Bezzo; also a frequent Rhine-area meadow name; Wendish bez ‘elder’
(measured from records)Officially recorded in 18 countries · latest register: Census Bureau, 2020
/ˈbɛts/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Betz is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Germany than in any other country.
- DEGermany≈1 in 5.8K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 33K
- CACanada≈1 in 42K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Germany (inferred from the name graph)
- Record sources
- 381 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 5.8K (inferred from the name graph)
≈14,000 people, est.
corpus datasets behind its best-documented spelling
strongest: highest-authority source
Germany, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin
(measured from records)from Bezzo; also a frequent Rhine-area meadow name; Wendish bez ‘elder’
Cited for this meaning 1
- Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung
Where in the world
(measured from records)Betz counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE Germany | #433 | ≈14,000 est. | ≈1 in 5.8K | listed | Betz | 168 |
| US United States | — | 10,120 | 1 in 33K | 10K | Betz | 381 |
| EG Egypt | — | ≈1,400 est. | ≈1 in 73K | — | Betz | 2 |
| GB United Kingdom | — | ≈1,400 est. | ≈1 in 47K | — | Betz | 71 |
| SA Saudi Arabia | — | ≈1,100 est. | ≈1 in 32K | — | Betz | 4 |
| CA Canada | — | ≈900 est. | ≈1 in 42K | — | Betz | 57 |
| SG Singapore | — | ≈170 est. | ≈1 in 36K | — | Betz | 7 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; the dfa-band-6 register. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses
(measured from records)Betz is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In German, Koseform zu Berchtold/Bernhard/Beringer/Peter; auch Wohnstättenname zu 'Wiese' bzw. slaw. bez 'Holunder'. 19 Types/11235 Tokens.
as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 2: Graphematik/Phonologie der Familiennamen II, Konsonantismus
In German, Kurzform-Familienname zu einem Rufnamen mit ahd. beraht 'hell, glänzend'; teils auch zu Peter oder Bär.
as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen
In German, Kurzformname mit -z-Suffix; Konkurrenz zu Namen mit ahd. beraht/ahs. ber(e)ht 'hell, glänzend'.
as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen
In German, häufiger patronymischer Familienname aus germ. Rufnamen mit -z-Suffix; im Vergleichskorpus der Karte genannt.
as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 1: Graphematik/Phonologie der Familiennamen I, Vokalismus
In German, Patronymischer Familienname aus einem Rufnamen der Betz-Form; Varianten: Beetz, Bätz.
as a nameDeutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name
(measured from records)- Franz Betzb. 1835DEGerman opera singer (1835–1900)
- Matthew Betzb. 1881USAmerican actor (1881–1938)
- Albert Betzb. 1885DEGerman physicist (1885–1968)
- Pauline Betzb. 1919USAmerican tennis player (1919–2011)
- Carl Betzb. 1921USAmerican stage, film and television actor (1921-1978)
- Hans Dieter Betzb. 1931DEAmerican scholar of the New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Chicago
- Werner Betzb. 1953DEGerman bicycle racer
- Hans-Georg Betzb. 1956DEGerman university teacher
- Johannes W. Betzb. 1965DEGerman screenwriter
- Stefan Betzb. 1970DEGerman film director and actor
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them
(machine-generated)Evidence
(measured from records)29 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 18 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 10K | #3,527 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 10K | #3,281 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 9.6K | #3,598 |
| DE Germany | Deutscher Familiennamenatlas Band 6 | — | — | — |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 5
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
- jeantosti.com — Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs (Jean Tosti)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Betz mean, and where does it come from?
- from Bezzo; also a frequent Rhine-area meadow name; Wendish bez ‘elder’ Recorded by Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung.
- How do you pronounce Betz?
- A machine transcription gives /ˈbɛts/ (IPA) for English.
- In which country does Betz have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 14 thousand people named Betz in Germany, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled betz.
- How common is the name Betz?
- In the United States, the national register counted 10,120 people named Betz in 2010, about 1 in 33 thousand residents.
- How common is Betz compared with other names?
- In Germany, Betz is the 433rd most common surname of 765,306 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Betz?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/betzThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Betz” — the 433rd most common surname in Germany. Data snapshot 2026-10-13.