Given name & surname
Rita
“daisy”
Rita is a form of Margarita. One Spanish interpretation is “daisy.”
Original SpanishMargarita
Meaning & origin
What it means
Rita is a form of Margarita. One Spanish interpretation is “daisy.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Spanish.
How it developed
Rita is used as a form of Margarita.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Rita through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 285,230
- 778 boys · 284,452 girls
- Most popular year
- 1949
- 6,669 babies
- 2025
- 174
- #1,287 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −13%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 174 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 1,287 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 13.5% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 6,653 in 1949. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (24). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 184,218 as a first name in 2020; 1,211 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.
Rita’s family of names
Rita is a short form of Margaret. In English usage, Rita developed from the Spanish form Margarita. In English usage, Rita has a related form in RETHA.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Rita has relatives in 13 languages. Lines run from its Spanish roots to each of them.
Spanishwhere Rita comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 22
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Margaretfull form
- Margaritafull form · Latvian, Spanish
- Maritafull form · Swedish
- Reatavariant
- Reetavariant · English
- Retavariant · English
- Rietavariant
- Rheetavariant
Show 14 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 4
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 8
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Rita
- Rita Levi-MontalciniItalian neurologist (1909–2012)
- Rita HayworthAmerican actress (1918–1987)
- Rita OraEnglish-Albanian singer and actressborn 1990
- Rita of CasciaItalian Augustinian nun1381–1457
- Rita WilsonAmerican actress, singer and producerborn 1956
- Rita LeeBrazilian singer, songwriter, author, actress and television host (1947–2023)
- Rita Mae Brownnovelist, poet, screenwriter, activist (born 1944)
- Rita CoolidgeAmerican recording artist; singerborn 1945
- Rita PavoneItalian actress and singer (1945-)
Characters named Rita: Rita Bennett (fictional character created by Jeff Lindsay).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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If you love Rita, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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