Reta
Feminine · “pearl”
Reta is the same clipping as Retha with the German h taken off. Both are the tail of a longer name — Margaretha or Rita's parent Margarita — and the h in the longer spelling was never an English sound anyway. Removing it makes the name look plainer and changes nothing that was ever said.
How old is the name Reta?
Reta was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Reta alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 3,400 people named Reta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Reta most popular?
Reta peaked in 1896, reaching #448 nationally. See the whole 1896 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Margarita to Reta
The story of Reta
Italian and Spanish cut Margarita from the back and got Rita, which became a full name in its own right and traveled everywhere. German and Scandinavian cut Margaretha the same way and got Retha, keeping a spelling habit English readers misinterpret. Reta sits between the two, with the Italian shape and without the German letter. All three appear in American records of the same decades, often within the same communities, which is what happens when one very long name is being shortened by speakers of four languages at once.
Meaningscholars disagree
pearl
If Reta is cut from Margarita or Margaretha, the meaning is a pearl, from Greek margarites — a solid derivation that carries through every European form of the name. Rita is the same clipping made in Italian and Spanish, and it became independent centuries ago. Whether an American Reta descends from that family or was simply built from a pleasant sound cannot be recovered, so the pearl is available rather than guaranteed.
How the name formed
- Margarita
- Rita
- Reta
Related forms: Rita · Margarita · Margaretha
Pronouncing Reta
REE-tuh
REE-tuh, two syllables, stress at the front, said exactly like Rita. Some say RET-uh with a short vowel, following the spelling more literally, and that reading is heard occasionally but is not the common one.
Nicknames for Reta
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1934180 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #448reached in 1896
- Change vs 1993
- −44.4%5 in 1998, from 9
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.
Reta in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rita in Italian — related form
- Margarita in Spanish — related form
- Margaretha in German — related form
Retas among us
people named Reta 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
Reta 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
- Four letters, two syllables, with nothing silent and nothing doubled.
- Margarita and Rita are both available as longer or better-known relatives.
- It is a genuine nineteenth-century American given name rather than a modern respelling.
- Rita is far better known and will be substituted in speech and in writing.
- The first vowel can be read long or short from this spelling, so the name gets said two ways.
- It belongs firmly to an earlier American century and has not returned.
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What they receive
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Reta
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Retas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,400 people named Reta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Reta in 2025?
- Reta is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Reta with classmates?
- Reta will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Ruth#173 · Rebecca#349 · Rachel#250 · Rose#114 · Ruby#64 · Robin#704 · Rita#1285 · Rhonda#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Reta? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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