Birutė

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Girl · Lithuanian (uncertain)

Birutė

Say it: bih-ROO-tay

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Name of the wife of Grand Duke Kęstutis and mother of Vytautas; its meaning is unknown, though a link to byrėti 'to scatter, crumble' has been proposed.

Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.

Revived in the 19th-century national movement and popular in the mid-20th century.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

0246818801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1953per million babies of that sex
  • 23 babies given this name since 1952
  • At its height in 1953, about 1 in 156,800 girls
  • Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  2. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

Lithuanian

Famous bearers

  • Birutė, duchess and mother of Vytautas the Great
  • Birutė Galdikas, primatologist

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Royal and noble genealogies
  • Medieval Slavic chronicles and charters
  • National birth statistics of European countries source
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.