Fun Facts About the Name Beretta
- 267 babies named Beretta: U.S. records list 267 babies given the name Beretta from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Beretta Mean?
Beretta is an Italian family name that is also used, though rarely, as a given name. It is built from a short Germanic personal name, usually reconstructed as Bero or Bera, plus the Italian diminutive suffix -etto. That structure gives the sense "little Bero," the way Italian nicknames and family names often mark a smaller or younger bearer of a personal name. The meaning of the root itself is not securely known; it may be connected with the Germanic element ber- meaning "bear," which also appears in names such as Bernard, but that link is an interpretation rather than a documented translation.
Because surnames in -etto commonly began as bynames, Beretta most likely started as a nickname for someone called the little Bero, or as a way of identifying the son of a man named Bero. A second and less certain explanation ties the name to berretto, the Italian word for a cap or beret, which would make it a nickname for a hat maker or a hat wearer. The two explanations are easy to confuse because the similar surname Berretta also exists in Italy. The personal-name derivation is the one more often given, but neither account can be treated as settled.
Beretta Name History & Origins
Beretta belongs to northern Italy and is found mainly in Lombardy, especially in the area around Brescia and its surrounding valleys. Names of this shape, a short Germanic root with an Italian diminutive ending, reflect the long contact between Germanic-speaking peoples and the Romance-speaking population of northern Italy in the early medieval period, when Lombard personal names passed into local use and were then reshaped by Italian speech.
As a first name, Beretta is rare and appears mostly in English-speaking countries as a transferred surname, following the general pattern by which family names are taken as given names. Outside Italy the surname is best known through the Beretta arms firm of Gardone Val Trompia, whose records reach back to 1526. That association belongs to the family name and does not represent a traditional use of Beretta as a personal name.
How Popular is the Name Beretta?
Beretta has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2020. Its best rank was #4,659 in 2020.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #9,547 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2024 | #8,504 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2023 | #7,700 | 14 | 0.0009% |
| 2022 | #7,331 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 2021 | #6,444 | 18 | 0.0011% |
| 2020 | #4,659 | 28 | 0.0017% |
| 2019 | #6,748 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 2018 | #6,050 | 20 | 0.0012% |
| 2017 | #5,857 | 21 | 0.0012% |
| 2016 | #5,826 | 22 | 0.0012% |
| 2015 | #8,535 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2014 | #7,364 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2013 | #11,156 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2012 | #11,408 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2011 | #15,126 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2010 | #13,684 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2009 | #12,617 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2007 | #18,042 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1998 | #12,654 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1965 | #5,861 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1960 | #6,447 | 5 | 0.0002% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Beretta Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You can go to great heights and equally great depths. You are emotional and fixed in your opinions. You are hospitable, sentimental, often psychic, sometimes moody. You are ruled by love and the lack of it and feel a need to be encouraged and appreciated. You have an eventful, exciting life. You are versatile and have the ability to learn easily.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Beretta's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Beretta's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.