Reta
Reta was last recorded in 1998, when 5 babies were given it; 8,616 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1998 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,130 Americans named Reta and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (36% of everyone recorded); the median is 74 years old and half are between 67 and 81.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Reta by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Reta mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Reta is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Reta?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #16,011, in 1998; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
192 babies in 1946, the peak
Reta peaked in 1946, when 192 girls were given it, #580 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 5 | #16,011 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 6 | #13,025 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 9 | #9,336 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 5 | #14,976 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 7 | #11,193 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 6 | #12,528 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,568 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 6 | #11,393 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,551 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,544 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (112)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 5 | #12,003 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 9 | #7,263 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 15 | #4,831 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 9 | #7,326 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 11 | #6,203 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 17 | #4,469 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 13 | #5,334 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 8 | #7,460 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 11 | #5,792 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 17 | #3,920 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 19 | #3,608 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 16 | #3,988 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 22 | #3,091 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 21 | #3,150 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 17 | #3,763 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 33 | #2,343 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 22 | #2,894 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 30 | #2,235 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 33 | #2,061 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 36 | #1,945 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 43 | #1,733 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 47 | #1,701 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 49 | #1,643 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 74 | #1,291 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 81 | #1,230 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 80 | #1,225 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 113 | #994 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 129 | #903 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 131 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1956 | 148 | #815 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 175 | #715 | 0.09 |
| 1954 | 163 | #723 | 0.08 |
| 1953 | 141 | #774 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 133 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1951 | 151 | #710 | 0.08 |
| 1950 | 166 | #662 | 0.10 |
| 1949 | 170 | #637 | 0.10 |
| 1948 | 158 | #666 | 0.09 |
| 1947 | 174 | #634 | 0.10 |
| 1946 | 192 | #580 | 0.12 |
| 1945 | 127 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1944 | 149 | #602 | 0.11 |
| 1943 | 164 | #589 | 0.12 |
| 1942 | 132 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1941 | 142 | #591 | 0.12 |
| 1940 | 156 | #553 | 0.14 |
| 1939 | 167 | #519 | 0.15 |
| 1938 | 164 | #530 | 0.15 |
| 1937 | 143 | #569 | 0.13 |
| 1936 | 150 | #532 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 176 | #476 | 0.17 |
| 1934 | 180 | #478 | 0.17 |
| 1933 | 167 | #495 | 0.17 |
| 1932 | 160 | #519 | 0.15 |
| 1931 | 174 | #490 | 0.16 |
| 1930 | 170 | #517 | 0.15 |
| 1929 | 151 | #558 | 0.14 |
| 1928 | 152 | #573 | 0.13 |
| 1927 | 144 | #592 | 0.12 |
| 1926 | 121 | #659 | 0.10 |
| 1925 | 161 | #564 | 0.13 |
| 1924 | 167 | #563 | 0.13 |
| 1923 | 128 | #656 | 0.11 |
| 1922 | 166 | #553 | 0.14 |
| 1921 | 149 | #593 | 0.12 |
| 1920 | 172 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1919 | 147 | #572 | 0.13 |
| 1918 | 131 | #621 | 0.11 |
| 1917 | 122 | #620 | 0.11 |
| 1916 | 147 | #548 | 0.14 |
| 1915 | 132 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1914 | 84 | #632 | 0.11 |
| 1913 | 61 | #670 | 0.10 |
| 1912 | 69 | #587 | 0.12 |
| 1911 | 42 | #674 | 0.10 |
| 1910 | 54 | #563 | 0.14 |
| 1909 | 40 | #621 | 0.12 |
| 1908 | 49 | #525 | 0.15 |
| 1907 | 48 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1906 | 36 | #601 | 0.12 |
| 1905 | 37 | #578 | 0.13 |
| 1904 | 23 | #751 | 0.08 |
| 1903 | 25 | #677 | 0.10 |
| 1902 | 32 | #589 | 0.12 |
| 1901 | 38 | #496 | 0.16 |
| 1900 | 32 | #632 | 0.11 |
| 1899 | 21 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 21 | #742 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 30 | #551 | 0.13 |
| 1896 | 42 | #451 | 0.18 |
| 1895 | 28 | #574 | 0.12 |
| 1894 | 30 | #534 | 0.13 |
| 1893 | 14 | #819 | 0.07 |
| 1892 | 24 | #576 | 0.11 |
| 1891 | 11 | #880 | 0.06 |
| 1890 | 15 | #717 | 0.08 |
| 1889 | 17 | #637 | 0.10 |
| 1888 | 12 | #788 | 0.07 |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,253 | 0.03 |
| 1885 | 5 | #1,169 | 0.04 |
| 1883 | 6 | #907 | 0.05 |
| 1880 | 5 | #921 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Reta a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Reta has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 112 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Reta: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Reta, and how old are they?
3,130 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 36% of the 8,616 Americans ever recorded as Reta. The median Reta alive today is 74 years old; half are between 67 and 81.
The 2020 Census counted 4,287 people named Reta (4,262 women and girls, 25 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,930 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 812 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,860 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 329 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 108 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5 |
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 Reta born?
The states with the most babies named Reta are Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, with 32% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Oklahoma and Missouri are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 642 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Oklahoma | 452 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| Missouri | 446 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Illinois | 344 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 308 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| West Virginia | 295 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Michigan | 274 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 217 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Kansas | 195 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Arkansas | 186 | not ranked | 1.4× |
Where Reta is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Reta is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 3.0 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 Reta 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 15,589 babies since 1880, Reta is the most given (55% of them). In 2025 none of their 21 babies recorded by SSA was a Reta (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 Reta
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 Reta and names like it
- Compare Reta and RettaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sReta peaked in 1946.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Reta since 1910.
- The top names of 1946The year the most babies were named Reta.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Reta alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.