Retta
Retta was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,899 among girls’ names; 3,399 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,140 Americans named Retta and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (34% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 61 and 79.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Retta by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Retta?
#12,899 among girls’ names, 2025
Retta entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #12,899 in 2025.
60 babies in 1922, the peak
Retta peaked in 1922, when 60 girls were given it, #967 among girls’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 12% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,899 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 7 | #13,168 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 5 | #17,087 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 8 | #11,971 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 5 | #17,014 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 6 | #15,260 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 11 | #9,793 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 6 | #15,839 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 5 | #18,630 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 5 | #17,001 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (118)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 5 | #14,977 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,831 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 6 | #12,529 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 5 | #12,323 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 6 | #10,310 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 9 | #7,264 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 5 | #11,573 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 11 | #6,204 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 6 | #10,035 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 5 | #11,013 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 6 | #9,334 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 8 | #7,103 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 10 | #5,862 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 10 | #5,656 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 14 | #4,299 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 12 | #4,732 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 18 | #3,620 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 18 | #3,541 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 15 | #3,730 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 25 | #2,526 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 16 | #3,296 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 12 | #3,895 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 22 | #2,661 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 24 | #2,590 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 17 | #3,158 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 23 | #2,583 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 32 | #2,104 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 39 | #1,830 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 51 | #1,531 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 45 | #1,601 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 38 | #1,769 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 49 | #1,525 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 48 | #1,476 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 55 | #1,363 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 39 | #1,581 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 49 | #1,396 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 58 | #1,222 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 50 | #1,299 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 50 | #1,297 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 42 | #1,433 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 36 | #1,597 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 45 | #1,300 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 50 | #1,115 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 46 | #1,171 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 54 | #1,101 | 0.04 |
| 1942 | 42 | #1,246 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 38 | #1,237 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 32 | #1,339 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 42 | #1,125 | 0.04 |
| 1938 | 43 | #1,109 | 0.04 |
| 1937 | 48 | #1,030 | 0.05 |
| 1936 | 39 | #1,146 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 48 | #1,003 | 0.05 |
| 1934 | 60 | #886 | 0.06 |
| 1933 | 39 | #1,134 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 48 | #1,030 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 36 | #1,220 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 34 | #1,315 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 42 | #1,153 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 48 | #1,094 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 41 | #1,226 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 41 | #1,217 | 0.03 |
| 1925 | 36 | #1,340 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 43 | #1,222 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 43 | #1,191 | 0.04 |
| 1922 | 60 | #967 | 0.05 |
| 1921 | 41 | #1,221 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 48 | #1,085 | 0.04 |
| 1919 | 38 | #1,235 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 43 | #1,150 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 43 | #1,096 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 38 | #1,163 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 42 | #1,038 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 33 | #1,055 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 25 | #1,116 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 25 | #1,050 | 0.04 |
| 1911 | 25 | #870 | 0.06 |
| 1910 | 22 | #935 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 22 | #886 | 0.06 |
| 1908 | 24 | #806 | 0.07 |
| 1907 | 29 | #708 | 0.09 |
| 1906 | 20 | #839 | 0.07 |
| 1905 | 26 | #709 | 0.09 |
| 1904 | 24 | #724 | 0.09 |
| 1903 | 29 | #625 | 0.11 |
| 1902 | 29 | #618 | 0.11 |
| 1901 | 33 | #537 | 0.14 |
| 1900 | 40 | #538 | 0.13 |
| 1899 | 32 | #536 | 0.14 |
| 1898 | 34 | #554 | 0.13 |
| 1897 | 28 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1896 | 31 | #545 | 0.13 |
| 1895 | 34 | #509 | 0.15 |
| 1894 | 28 | #552 | 0.13 |
| 1893 | 28 | #532 | 0.13 |
| 1892 | 26 | #550 | 0.12 |
| 1891 | 27 | #505 | 0.15 |
| 1890 | 26 | #520 | 0.14 |
| 1889 | 24 | #529 | 0.13 |
| 1888 | 31 | #449 | 0.17 |
| 1887 | 30 | #402 | 0.21 |
| 1886 | 28 | #413 | 0.19 |
| 1885 | 28 | #391 | 0.21 |
| 1884 | 21 | #447 | 0.16 |
| 1883 | 22 | #408 | 0.20 |
| 1882 | 23 | #376 | 0.21 |
| 1881 | 17 | #416 | 0.18 |
| 1880 | 25 | #324 | 0.27 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Retta a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Retta has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 118 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Retta: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Retta, and how old are they?
1,140 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 34% of the 3,399 Americans ever recorded as Retta. The median Retta alive today is 71 years old; half are between 61 and 79.
The 2020 Census counted 1,354 people named Retta (1,339 women and girls, 15 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,339 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 236 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 604 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 181 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 50 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 60 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 15,682 babies since 1880, Retta is the second most given (22% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 21 babies (33%), 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 Retta
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 Retta and names like it
- Compare Retta and RetaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sRetta peaked in 1922.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Retta since 1910.
- The top names of 1922The year the most babies were named Retta.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Retta alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.