Meaning & origin
A reliable meaning for Retha isn’t established in our sources yet. Rather than guess, we show what is recorded: how the name is used, how often, and the names it’s connected to.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1884. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Retha through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 10,597
- 0 boys · 10,597 girls
- Most popular year
- 1924
- 252 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 2014. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 252 in 1924. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 4,117 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Retha’s family of names
In English usage, Retha has a related form in Rita.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Retha
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Retha, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.