Aretta
Aretta was last recorded in 1991, when 6 babies were given it; 1,142 Americans have been recorded with it between 1900 and 1991 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Aretta by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Aretta?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #11,618, in 1991; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
33 babies in 1923, the peak
Aretta peaked in 1923, when 33 girls were given it, #1,390 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 6 | #11,618 | 3.2 |
| 1980 | 5 | #10,492 | 3.0 |
| 1976 | 6 | #8,219 | 4.1 |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,118 | 5.5 |
| 1971 | 12 | #4,549 | 7.2 |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,406 | 4.0 |
| 1969 | 8 | #5,474 | 4.7 |
| 1968 | 7 | #5,669 | 4.3 |
| 1967 | 5 | #6,864 | 3.0 |
| 1966 | 11 | #3,972 | 6.5 |
Every recorded year (71)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | 15 | #3,270 | 8.5 |
| 1964 | 8 | #5,017 | 4.2 |
| 1963 | 6 | #5,916 | 3.1 |
| 1962 | 13 | #3,606 | 6.6 |
| 1961 | 11 | #4,021 | 5.4 |
| 1960 | 9 | #4,451 | 4.5 |
| 1959 | 14 | #3,262 | 6.9 |
| 1958 | 9 | #4,209 | 4.5 |
| 1957 | 15 | #3,034 | 7.3 |
| 1956 | 16 | #2,937 | 8.0 |
| 1955 | 18 | #2,637 | 9.2 |
| 1954 | 9 | #3,986 | 4.6 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,275 | 6.4 |
| 1952 | 10 | #3,561 | 5.4 |
| 1951 | 11 | #3,290 | 6.1 |
| 1950 | 16 | #2,543 | 9.3 |
| 1949 | 18 | #2,344 | 10.5 |
| 1948 | 13 | #2,838 | 7.7 |
| 1947 | 19 | #2,283 | 10.7 |
| 1946 | 17 | #2,320 | 10.8 |
| 1945 | 13 | #2,466 | 9.9 |
| 1944 | 14 | #2,409 | 10.5 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,702 | 8.6 |
| 1942 | 15 | #2,314 | 11.1 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,406 | 10.8 |
| 1940 | 15 | #2,112 | 13.1 |
| 1939 | 17 | #1,952 | 15.5 |
| 1938 | 23 | #1,598 | 20.8 |
| 1937 | 20 | #1,737 | 18.8 |
| 1936 | 20 | #1,692 | 19.2 |
| 1935 | 13 | #2,310 | 12.4 |
| 1934 | 16 | #2,007 | 15.3 |
| 1933 | 25 | #1,473 | 24.8 |
| 1932 | 21 | #1,689 | 19.7 |
| 1931 | 22 | #1,637 | 20.7 |
| 1930 | 23 | #1,663 | 20.4 |
| 1929 | 28 | #1,449 | 25.1 |
| 1928 | 19 | #1,962 | 16.5 |
| 1927 | 22 | #1,828 | 18.4 |
| 1926 | 25 | #1,670 | 21.1 |
| 1925 | 29 | #1,536 | 23.8 |
| 1924 | 32 | #1,477 | 25.6 |
| 1923 | 33 | #1,390 | 27.4 |
| 1922 | 27 | #1,612 | 22.5 |
| 1921 | 28 | #1,577 | 22.7 |
| 1920 | 29 | #1,514 | 24.2 |
| 1919 | 31 | #1,394 | 27.4 |
| 1918 | 27 | #1,542 | 23.3 |
| 1917 | 21 | #1,712 | 19.4 |
| 1916 | 23 | #1,586 | 22.0 |
| 1915 | 24 | #1,479 | 24.4 |
| 1914 | 24 | #1,265 | 31.5 |
| 1913 | 24 | #1,122 | 38.4 |
| 1912 | 17 | #1,302 | 30.5 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,668 | 21.5 |
| 1910 | 10 | #1,527 | 25.2 |
| 1909 | 11 | #1,296 | 31.7 |
| 1908 | 15 | #1,048 | 44.9 |
| 1907 | 8 | #1,517 | 25.1 |
| 1904 | 5 | #1,906 | 18.2 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,947 | 16.7 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Aretta a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Aretta has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 71 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Aretta: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Aretta, and how old are they?
An estimated 357 Americans named Aretta and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (31% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 62 and 80. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 427 people named Aretta (427 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 454 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 3,236 babies since 1880, Aretta is the most given (35% of them). In 2025 none of their 24 babies recorded by SSA was a Aretta (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Aretta
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Aretta and names like it
- Compare Aretta and ArtaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sAretta peaked in 1923.
- West Virginia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Aretta since 1910.
- The top names of 1923The year the most babies were named Aretta.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Aretta alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.