Reta
Pure, virtuous, immaculate feminine name of Latin origin.
Name Census estimates that about 2,714 living Americans carry the first name Reta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Reta today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Reta births was 1946 (192 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Reta. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Reta is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Retas were born before 1964.
People living today
2.7K
~ 1 in 126,291 Americans
Peak year
1946
192 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1998 SSA rank
#16,018
Tracked since 1880
Census
Reta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,297 people with the first name Reta, which placed it at #4,378 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
#4,378
National first-name rank
People counted
4.3K
4,297 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Reta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reta is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Reta 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 Reta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.3% · 3,667
- Black or African American7.8% · 335
- Two or more races3.3% · 140
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 81
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 34
Popularity
Reta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Reta from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 1,651 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Reta 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 Reta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Retas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the most babies named Reta, while South Dakota, Minnesota, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 142 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Reta
The name Reta is of Greek origin, deriving from the word "rhetos," which means "said" or "spoken." It is a feminine form of the masculine name Rhetos and is believed to have originated in ancient Greece during the classical period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Reta can be found in ancient Greek literature, where it was used as a character name in several plays and poems. It was particularly popular among the aristocratic classes of ancient Athens and Sparta.
In the 5th century BC, there was a notable Athenian woman named Reta, who was a philosopher and a student of Socrates. She is mentioned in Plato's dialogues as a participant in some of Socrates' discussions on ethics and virtue.
During the Byzantine era, the name Reta was associated with Christian martyrs and saints. One such figure was Saint Reta of Antinoe, who lived in the 3rd century AD and was renowned for her piety and charitable works.
In the Middle Ages, the name Reta gained popularity in various European regions, particularly in Italy and France. One notable bearer of the name was Reta of Avignon, a 14th-century French noblewoman known for her patronage of the arts and her influence in the court of Pope Clement VI.
Another famous bearer of the name was Reta Guyer (1892-1976), a Swiss painter and illustrator who was part of the Expressionist movement in the early 20th century. Her works are celebrated for their vivid colors and bold brushstrokes.
In the realm of literature, Reta Nansen (1858-1907) was a Norwegian writer and the wife of the famous explorer Fridtjof Nansen. She published several novels and memoirs documenting her travels and experiences.
The name Reta has also been present in the field of music. Reta Walter (1875-1959) was an American opera singer and vocal teacher who performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City during the early 20th century.
While the name Reta may not be as common today as it once was, it carries a rich history and a connection to various cultures and periods, reflecting its Greek origins and its journey through different eras and regions.
People
Reta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Reta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Reta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Reta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,714 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Reta 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 126,291 US residents.
Is Reta a common name?
We classify Reta as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,616 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Reta most popular?
The single biggest year for Reta was 1946, when 192 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Reta is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Reta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,297 people with the name Reta, or 1.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,378 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 Reta 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 Reta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Reta appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,287 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Reta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Reta is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Reta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Reta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (3,667 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 Reta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Reta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Reta 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 Reta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Reta 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 Reta 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 the name Reta?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.