Loretha
Loretha was last recorded in 1995, when 5 babies were given it; 1,792 Americans have been recorded with it between 1910 and 1995 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,030 Americans named Loretha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (57% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 59 and 76.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Loretha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Loretha?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,783, in 1995; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
45 babies in 1954, the peak
Loretha peaked in 1954, when 45 girls were given it, #1,514 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 5 | #14,783 | 2.8 |
| 1992 | 8 | #10,043 | 4.3 |
| 1991 | 8 | #9,853 | 4.3 |
| 1988 | 6 | #11,170 | 3.4 |
| 1987 | 7 | #9,370 | 4.0 |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,285 | 3.5 |
| 1984 | 8 | #7,826 | 4.8 |
| 1983 | 9 | #7,051 | 5.4 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,780 | 4.1 |
| 1980 | 12 | #5,747 | 7.2 |
Every recorded year (78)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 7 | #8,575 | 4.4 |
| 1978 | 5 | #10,690 | 3.3 |
| 1977 | 11 | #5,716 | 7.2 |
| 1976 | 15 | #4,258 | 10.2 |
| 1975 | 11 | #5,353 | 7.5 |
| 1974 | 20 | #3,379 | 13.6 |
| 1973 | 12 | #4,722 | 8.2 |
| 1972 | 16 | #3,812 | 10.5 |
| 1971 | 20 | #3,322 | 12.0 |
| 1970 | 20 | #3,267 | 11.4 |
| 1969 | 31 | #2,330 | 18.4 |
| 1968 | 27 | #2,397 | 16.5 |
| 1967 | 29 | #2,246 | 17.6 |
| 1966 | 21 | #2,715 | 12.4 |
| 1965 | 38 | #1,878 | 21.5 |
| 1964 | 38 | #1,933 | 20.1 |
| 1963 | 37 | #1,935 | 19.2 |
| 1962 | 37 | #1,905 | 18.8 |
| 1961 | 41 | #1,796 | 20.3 |
| 1960 | 32 | #2,035 | 15.8 |
| 1959 | 33 | #1,970 | 16.3 |
| 1958 | 30 | #2,050 | 14.9 |
| 1957 | 38 | #1,762 | 18.6 |
| 1956 | 44 | #1,607 | 21.9 |
| 1955 | 43 | #1,565 | 22.0 |
| 1954 | 45 | #1,514 | 23.2 |
| 1953 | 44 | #1,478 | 23.4 |
| 1952 | 37 | #1,595 | 20.0 |
| 1951 | 28 | #1,861 | 15.5 |
| 1950 | 38 | #1,514 | 22.2 |
| 1949 | 29 | #1,787 | 17.0 |
| 1948 | 33 | #1,633 | 19.4 |
| 1947 | 31 | #1,741 | 17.5 |
| 1946 | 31 | #1,607 | 19.7 |
| 1945 | 19 | #1,964 | 14.5 |
| 1944 | 36 | #1,351 | 27.1 |
| 1943 | 33 | #1,453 | 23.7 |
| 1942 | 35 | #1,377 | 25.9 |
| 1941 | 26 | #1,555 | 21.5 |
| 1940 | 31 | #1,365 | 27.1 |
| 1939 | 17 | #2,001 | 15.5 |
| 1938 | 32 | #1,299 | 29.0 |
| 1937 | 32 | #1,294 | 30.1 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,620 | 21.1 |
| 1935 | 38 | #1,150 | 36.2 |
| 1934 | 24 | #1,534 | 23.0 |
| 1933 | 32 | #1,278 | 31.7 |
| 1932 | 25 | #1,551 | 23.4 |
| 1931 | 36 | #1,209 | 33.8 |
| 1930 | 24 | #1,638 | 21.3 |
| 1929 | 21 | #1,795 | 18.8 |
| 1928 | 23 | #1,757 | 19.9 |
| 1927 | 24 | #1,749 | 20.1 |
| 1926 | 17 | #2,213 | 14.3 |
| 1925 | 20 | #1,980 | 16.4 |
| 1924 | 20 | #2,036 | 16.0 |
| 1923 | 17 | #2,230 | 14.1 |
| 1922 | 24 | #1,757 | 20.0 |
| 1921 | 26 | #1,702 | 21.1 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,490 | 7.5 |
| 1919 | 16 | #2,208 | 14.2 |
| 1918 | 12 | #2,759 | 10.4 |
| 1917 | 14 | #2,380 | 12.9 |
| 1916 | 12 | #2,583 | 11.5 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,666 | 5.1 |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,542 | 11.8 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,523 | 12.5 |
| 1910 | 6 | #2,297 | 15.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Loretha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Loretha has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 78 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Loretha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Loretha, and how old are they?
1,030 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 57% of the 1,792 Americans ever recorded as Loretha. The median Loretha alive today is 67 years old; half are between 59 and 76.
The 2020 Census counted 943 people named Loretha (942 women and girls, 1 man or boy). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,182 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 153 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 537 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 271 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 62 |
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 Loretha born?
The states with the most babies named Loretha are Florida, Georgia and Alabama, with 69% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Alabama is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 108 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Georgia | 99 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Alabama | 26 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Louisiana | 26 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Mississippi | 23 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Oklahoma | 21 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 20 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Texas | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Loretha is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Loretha is most over-represented in Florida: since 1910 it was given 2.9 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 Loretha 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,852 babies since 1880, Loretha is the most given (97% of them).
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 Loretha
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 Loretha and names like it
- Compare Loretha and LoreathaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sLoretha peaked in 1954.
- Florida’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Loretha since 1910.
- The top names of 1954The year the most babies were named Loretha.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Loretha alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with LMost given first.