Gretel
Feminine · “pearl”
Gretel is a German diminutive of Margarete, and Margarete is a pearl — one of the oldest and most-traveled women's names in Europe. The fairy tale attached to it is much younger than the name.
How old is the name Gretel?
Gretel first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Gretel alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 1,400 people named Gretel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gretel most popular?
Gretel peaked in 2022, reaching #2579 nationally. Today it ranks #3249, 670 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From margarites to Gretel
The story of Gretel
Margarita reached Europe from Greek through the cult of a fourth-century martyr and became one of the most-used women's names on the continent. German clipped it hard — Grete, Gretchen, Gretel — and the short forms have been complete names for centuries. The Grimm brothers published the tale of two children abandoned in a wood in 1812, and that story has traveled with the name ever since, for better and for worse.
Meaning
pearl
From Greek margarites, a pearl, through Latin Margarita; German made Margarete and then the pet forms Grete and Gretel, the -el ending being an ordinary German diminutive.
How the name formed
- margarites
- Margarete
- Grete
- Gretel
Related forms: Gretchen · Margaret · Greta · Margherita
Pronouncing Gretel
GRET-uhl
Two syllables, first stressed. German gives the first vowel a slightly longer sound.
Nicknames for Gretel
Moderate
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 201463 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2579reached in 2022
- Change vs 2023
- −4.0%48 in 2025, from 50
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.
Gretel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gretchen in German — related form
- Margaret in English — related form
- Greta in Swedish — related form
- Margherita in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.
Gretels among us
people named Gretel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 33,485 born in 2025 was named Gretel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Gretel
- #3249
- Gretel on the 2025 chart
- #866
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Gretel went to 48 girls in 2025, but Grettel and Grettell are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 94, which makes it the 866th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,383 places above the chart.
- Gretel48
- Grettel38
- Grettell8
About 1 girl in 17,099 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 33,485 for Gretel itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Talyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gretel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Talyn climbed just as high around 2006, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Talyn's path sketches the road Gretel is walking now.
Gretel sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Gretel is headed
Gretel should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Gretel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gretel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning behind one of the most-documented name chains in Europe.
- Greta stands beside it as a shorter and very current alternative.
- Six letters and two syllables, easy to write and to say.
- The fairy tale is the first association for nearly everyone, and it involves being abandoned and nearly eaten.
- It reads as a diminutive in German, which relatives may notice.
- Gretel and Gretl are both used, the second being the Austrian form.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Gretel
Feminine · #3249 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gretels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Gretel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Gretel?
- Gretel is the most-used spelling in US records — 48 of the 94 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Grettel and Grettell.
- How popular is the name Gretel in 2025?
- Gretel ranks #3249 among US girl names in 2025, with 48 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gretel?
- About 1 in every 33,485 US girls born in 2025 was named Gretel — 48 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gretel with classmates?
- Gretel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gretel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aisley#3249 · Quinley#3249 · Rosetta#3249 · Avalee#3249 · Unknown#3249 · Livi#3249 · Delina#3249 · Aniah#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gretel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gretel and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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