Given name & surname
Rhea
Rhea is a feminine given name from Ancient Greek. It is used in English, Norwegian Bokmål, and Cebuano.
Original Ancient GreekῬέα
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
How it developed
In Cebuano usage, Rhea developed from Ῥέα.
The story
In mythological stories, Rhea is associated with the wife of Cronus and mother of gods and goddesses.
Rhea through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 20,145
- 408 boys · 19,737 girls
- Most popular year
- 2023
- 577 babies
- 2025
- 452
- #639 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +36%
- Rising
Boys, girls and both
The balance of boys and girls given this name has shifted over time. Recent births are 0% boys.
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 452 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 639 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 35.8% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (64). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 12,677 as a first name in 2020; 7,671 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Rhea’s family of names
In Norwegian Bokmål usage, Rhea shares a linguistic root with the Italian form Rea. Rhea has a related form in Rhia. Rhea has a related form in Rea.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 7
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 5
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Rhea
- Rhea PerlmanAmerican actressborn 1948
- Rhea SeehornAmerican actress (born 1972)
- Rhea KapoorIndian film producerborn 1987
- Rhea MitchellAmerican actress (1890-1957)
- Rhea SharmaIndian actressborn 1995
- Rhea DurhamAmerican modelborn 1978
- Rhea PillaiBritish modelborn 1965
- Rhea HarderGerman actressborn 1976
- Rhea RajAmerican singer-songwriter (born 2000)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Rhea, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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