Coretha
Feminine
Coretha sits one sound away from Coretta, the name Coretta Scott King carried, and one ending away from Cora. It has the soft th of the -etha names and a stressed middle: co-REE-tha.
How old is the name Coretha?
Coretha first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Coretha alive today was born around 1941, making them about 84 years old. About 200 people named Coretha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Coretha most popular?
Coretha peaked in 1925, reaching #2018 nationally. See the whole 1925 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Coretha
Coretha shares all but one sound with Coretta, and Coretta has one of the best-known bearers in American history. Before she married Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott was studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, training as a concert singer, and in later years she sang in concerts that raised money for the civil rights movement. Coretha is its own name, with its own th, but it lives next door to that story.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Coretha has no recorded meaning. Cora goes back to the Greek kore, a maiden, and Coretta was built on Cora with a diminutive ending. Coretha could be either with the -etha ending, and nothing records which, so neither meaning passes to it with certainty.
Pronouncing Coretha
koh-REE-thuh
Three syllables, stressed on REE, like Aretha. Readers who know Coretta may say koh-RET-a.
Nicknames for Coretha
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 192519 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2018reached in 1925
- Change vs 1979
- +16.7%7 in 1988, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Corethas among us
people named Coretha are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Coretha sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Close to Coretta, a name with a famous and admired bearer.
- Cora is a ready short form with a long history.
- Three clear syllables with a middle stress.
- Most people will hear and write Coretta; the th will need spelling out.
- It is rarely given now and will sound of an earlier generation to many listeners.
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Coretha
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Corethas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Coretha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Coretha in 2025?
- Coretha is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Coretha with classmates?
- Coretha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Coretha? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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