Aretha
A feminine name derived from Greek meaning "exceedingly virtuous or eminent lady".
Name Census estimates that about 3,978 living Americans carry the first name Aretha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aretha today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aretha births was 1968 (543 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aretha. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aretha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 86,162 Americans
Peak year
1968
543 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,616
Tracked since 1900
Census
Aretha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,018 people with the first name Aretha, which placed it at #4,576 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,576
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
4,018 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aretha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aretha is Black at 86.8%. The next largest groups are White (5.8%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aretha described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aretha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.8% · 3,486
- White5.8% · 233
- Two or more races3.4% · 136
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 80
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 31
Popularity
Aretha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aretha from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 2,008 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aretha by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aretha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arethas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Aretha, while Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 113 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aretha
The name Aretha has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is derived from the Greek word "arête" which means "virtue" or "excellence". The name was fairly common in ancient Greece and was often given to female children as a symbolic wish for them to lead virtuous and exemplary lives.
In ancient Greek mythology, Aretha was one of the Oceanid nymphs, the 3,000 daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Her name appears in various texts and records from the time, including the works of the ancient Greek poet Hesiod.
The earliest recorded use of the name Aretha dates back to the 5th century BC. One of the earliest known historical figures with this name was Aretha of Cyrene, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived around 350 BC. She is credited with developing several geometric principles and is considered one of the first notable female mathematicians in recorded history.
During the Roman era, the name Aretha continued to be used, though its popularity waned somewhat. One notable bearer of the name was Aretha, the wife of the Roman Emperor Diocletian who ruled from 284 to 305 AD.
In the Middle Ages, the name saw a revival in popularity, particularly in parts of Europe influenced by the Byzantine Empire. One of the most famous historical figures with the name Aretha during this time was Aretha of Lezha, an Albanian noblewoman and military leader who lived in the 13th century. She played a crucial role in defending her region against the invasion of the Angevin forces.
As the centuries passed, the name Aretha remained in use, though it was not as widespread as some other names. In the 17th century, there was a notable figure named Aretha Gorges, a French poet and playwright who was active in the literary circles of Paris.
In more recent history, the name Aretha has become closely associated with the legendary American singer Aretha Franklin, who was born in 1942 and passed away in 2018. Known as the "Queen of Soul", she was a highly influential figure in the world of music and is considered one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Aretha
People
Aretha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aretha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aretha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aretha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,978 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aretha going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 86,162 US residents.
Is Aretha a common name?
We classify Aretha as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,656 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aretha most popular?
The single biggest year for Aretha was 1968, when 543 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aretha is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aretha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,018 people with the name Aretha, or 1.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,576 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aretha in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aretha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aretha appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,025 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aretha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aretha is Black at 86.8%. The next largest groups are White (5.8%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aretha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aretha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.8% (3,486 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aretha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aretha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aretha in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aretha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aretha in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aretha can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Aretha as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Aretha, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.