Gretta
Gretta was given to 23 girls in 2025, #5,465 among girls’ names; 4,139 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,830 Americans named Gretta and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (68% of everyone recorded); the median is 39 years old and half are between 16 and 60.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gretta by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gretta mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Gretta is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.”
From Margaret. A rare variant of Greta.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gretta?
#5,465 among girls’ names, 2025
Gretta fell from #3,231 in 2015 to #5,465 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 28.6 to 14.3 per million.
100 babies in 1966, the peak
Gretta peaked in 1966, when 100 girls were given it, #1,043 among girls’ names. The 23 births of 2025 are 23% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 23 | #5,465 | 14.3 |
| 2024 | 32 | #4,414 | 19.8 |
| 2023 | 31 | #4,494 | 19.3 |
| 2022 | 40 | #3,785 | 24.4 |
| 2021 | 30 | #4,543 | 18.3 |
| 2020 | 32 | #4,294 | 19.8 |
| 2019 | 52 | #3,107 | 31.0 |
| 2018 | 47 | #3,360 | 27.6 |
| 2017 | 50 | #3,214 | 29.0 |
| 2016 | 64 | #2,716 | 36.1 |
Every recorded year (142)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 51 | #3,231 | 28.6 |
| 2014 | 46 | #3,448 | 25.8 |
| 2013 | 63 | #2,736 | 35.9 |
| 2012 | 58 | #2,945 | 32.9 |
| 2011 | 42 | #3,684 | 23.9 |
| 2010 | 70 | #2,594 | 39.4 |
| 2009 | 46 | #3,530 | 25.0 |
| 2008 | 38 | #4,116 | 20.1 |
| 2007 | 49 | #3,395 | 25.5 |
| 2006 | 35 | #4,190 | 18.4 |
| 2005 | 57 | #2,876 | 30.8 |
| 2004 | 45 | #3,349 | 24.5 |
| 2003 | 39 | #3,616 | 21.3 |
| 2002 | 29 | #4,314 | 16.1 |
| 2001 | 44 | #3,155 | 24.4 |
| 2000 | 41 | #3,289 | 22.6 |
| 1999 | 38 | #3,336 | 21.4 |
| 1998 | 23 | #4,695 | 13.0 |
| 1997 | 26 | #4,158 | 14.9 |
| 1996 | 25 | #4,226 | 14.3 |
| 1995 | 26 | #4,007 | 14.8 |
| 1994 | 26 | #4,044 | 14.6 |
| 1993 | 19 | #5,061 | 10.5 |
| 1992 | 23 | #4,415 | 12.5 |
| 1991 | 12 | #7,104 | 6.4 |
| 1990 | 16 | #5,635 | 8.4 |
| 1989 | 17 | #5,119 | 9.2 |
| 1988 | 15 | #5,408 | 8.4 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,248 | 4.6 |
| 1986 | 16 | #4,795 | 9.3 |
| 1985 | 13 | #5,458 | 7.6 |
| 1984 | 15 | #4,802 | 8.9 |
| 1983 | 21 | #3,722 | 12.6 |
| 1982 | 28 | #3,113 | 16.5 |
| 1981 | 31 | #2,871 | 18.6 |
| 1980 | 29 | #3,021 | 17.5 |
| 1979 | 19 | #3,949 | 11.8 |
| 1978 | 21 | #3,545 | 13.7 |
| 1977 | 28 | #2,857 | 18.3 |
| 1976 | 23 | #3,125 | 15.7 |
| 1975 | 34 | #2,374 | 23.3 |
| 1974 | 40 | #2,081 | 27.3 |
| 1973 | 29 | #2,526 | 19.9 |
| 1972 | 41 | #1,981 | 27.0 |
| 1971 | 55 | #1,670 | 33.1 |
| 1970 | 47 | #1,865 | 26.9 |
| 1969 | 49 | #1,740 | 29.0 |
| 1968 | 68 | #1,352 | 41.5 |
| 1967 | 77 | #1,214 | 46.6 |
| 1966 | 100 | #1,043 | 59.1 |
| 1965 | 27 | #2,312 | 15.3 |
| 1964 | 27 | #2,372 | 14.2 |
| 1963 | 24 | #2,505 | 12.5 |
| 1962 | 45 | #1,693 | 22.9 |
| 1961 | 21 | #2,698 | 10.4 |
| 1960 | 53 | #1,526 | 26.2 |
| 1959 | 36 | #1,860 | 17.8 |
| 1958 | 39 | #1,744 | 19.4 |
| 1957 | 37 | #1,793 | 18.1 |
| 1956 | 33 | #1,880 | 16.4 |
| 1955 | 28 | #2,036 | 14.3 |
| 1954 | 38 | #1,655 | 19.6 |
| 1953 | 24 | #2,142 | 12.8 |
| 1952 | 27 | #1,954 | 14.6 |
| 1951 | 25 | #1,985 | 13.9 |
| 1950 | 27 | #1,847 | 15.8 |
| 1949 | 30 | #1,746 | 17.5 |
| 1948 | 25 | #1,908 | 14.7 |
| 1947 | 35 | #1,614 | 19.7 |
| 1946 | 32 | #1,570 | 20.4 |
| 1945 | 31 | #1,459 | 23.7 |
| 1944 | 41 | #1,239 | 30.9 |
| 1943 | 22 | #1,856 | 15.8 |
| 1942 | 36 | #1,355 | 26.7 |
| 1941 | 28 | #1,483 | 23.2 |
| 1940 | 35 | #1,255 | 30.6 |
| 1939 | 29 | #1,385 | 26.4 |
| 1938 | 41 | #1,133 | 37.2 |
| 1937 | 42 | #1,106 | 39.5 |
| 1936 | 35 | #1,215 | 33.6 |
| 1935 | 42 | #1,077 | 40.1 |
| 1934 | 44 | #1,057 | 42.1 |
| 1933 | 40 | #1,107 | 39.7 |
| 1932 | 46 | #1,049 | 43.1 |
| 1931 | 36 | #1,205 | 33.8 |
| 1930 | 34 | #1,300 | 30.2 |
| 1929 | 34 | #1,294 | 30.5 |
| 1928 | 33 | #1,349 | 28.6 |
| 1927 | 30 | #1,498 | 25.2 |
| 1926 | 24 | #1,745 | 20.2 |
| 1925 | 19 | #2,066 | 15.6 |
| 1924 | 23 | #1,830 | 18.4 |
| 1923 | 29 | #1,538 | 24.0 |
| 1922 | 28 | #1,592 | 23.3 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,425 | 12.2 |
| 1920 | 25 | #1,678 | 20.9 |
| 1919 | 24 | #1,670 | 21.2 |
| 1918 | 37 | #1,245 | 32.0 |
| 1917 | 18 | #1,950 | 16.6 |
| 1916 | 25 | #1,500 | 23.9 |
| 1915 | 31 | #1,270 | 31.5 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,689 | 21.0 |
| 1913 | 15 | #1,551 | 24.0 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,657 | 21.5 |
| 1911 | 18 | #1,045 | 43.0 |
| 1910 | 10 | #1,564 | 25.2 |
| 1909 | 11 | #1,324 | 31.7 |
| 1908 | 12 | #1,227 | 35.9 |
| 1907 | 10 | #1,332 | 31.4 |
| 1906 | 14 | #1,014 | 47.4 |
| 1905 | 13 | #1,072 | 44.6 |
| 1904 | 11 | #1,127 | 39.9 |
| 1903 | 10 | #1,160 | 38.2 |
| 1902 | 10 | #1,163 | 37.9 |
| 1901 | 7 | #1,392 | 29.2 |
| 1900 | 12 | #1,131 | 40.0 |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,486 | 25.7 |
| 1898 | 13 | #981 | 50.2 |
| 1897 | 7 | #1,317 | 29.9 |
| 1896 | 8 | #1,250 | 33.6 |
| 1895 | 16 | #800 | 68.5 |
| 1894 | 10 | #1,024 | 44.9 |
| 1893 | 10 | #984 | 47.0 |
| 1892 | 9 | #1,041 | 42.4 |
| 1891 | 8 | #1,048 | 43.1 |
| 1890 | 11 | #847 | 57.8 |
| 1889 | 9 | #924 | 50.5 |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,192 | 33.6 |
| 1887 | 7 | #984 | 48.0 |
| 1886 | 6 | #1,024 | 41.5 |
| 1885 | 5 | #1,110 | 37.6 |
| 1881 | 5 | #872 | 54.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gretta a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gretta has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 142 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gretta: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gretta, and how old are they?
2,830 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 68% of the 4,139 Americans ever recorded as Gretta. The median Gretta alive today is 39 years old; half are between 16 and 60.
The 2020 Census counted 3,004 people named Gretta (2,998 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,840 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 185 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 472 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 632 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 302 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 673 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 557 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Gretta born?
The states with the most babies named Gretta are Minnesota, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 50% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 132 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Texas | 103 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 65 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| California | 55 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Wisconsin | 44 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Alabama | 38 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 31 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Kentucky | 29 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| New York | 27 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| South Carolina | 19 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Gretta is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gretta is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 1.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Gretta with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 31,991 babies since 1880, Gretta is the second most given (13% of them). In 2025 it was given to 23 of their 314 babies (7.3%), again the second most given.
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 Gretta
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 Gretta and names like it
- Compare Gretta and GretaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sGretta peaked in 1966.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gretta since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Gretta: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1966The year the most babies were named Gretta.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Gretta alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with GMost given first.