Short form of Elizabeth (oath of God) or Bethany (house of figs).
Beth is a name of elegant economy, most commonly understood as a short form of Elizabeth — which traces back through Latin and Greek to the Hebrew Elisheba, meaning either 'my God is an oath' or 'my God is abundance.' The full name has been borne by queens, saints, and empresses; Beth strips all that grandeur away and offers something intimate and unguarded instead. It also happens to be the name of the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, shaped like a house, which gives it an additional quiet layer of antiquity.
In literary history, no bearer of the name has been more influential than Beth March, the third daughter in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868). Beth is the still, gentle center of the March family — musical, selfless, the keeper of the home — and her illness and death form the emotional heart of the novel's second volume. Alcott's Beth established an archetype: the name became associated with quiet goodness, warmth without ambition, and a kind of luminous fragility.
That association lingered powerfully through the twentieth century. Beth enjoyed consistent popularity through the mid-twentieth century, especially in America, before softening in the 1980s and 1990s as Elizabeth in full came back into fashion. It has since settled into a comfortable vintage register — one of those names that feels genuinely simple rather than simplistc.
The rock band KISS gave it an unexpected moment with their 1976 power ballad 'Beth,' a surprise hit that demonstrated the name's emotional resonance even in unlikely contexts. Today, Beth appeals to parents who want something short, unshowy, and genuinely warm — a name with literary depth that wears it lightly.