Bretta
A feminine variant of Breton origin meaning "from Brittany".
Name Census estimates that about 367 living Americans carry the first name Bretta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bretta today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bretta births was 1970 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bretta. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
367
~ 1 in 933,936 Americans
Peak year
1970
20 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2017 SSA rank
#16,302
Tracked since 1950
Census
Bretta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 458 people with the first name Bretta, which placed it at #21,926 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,926
National first-name rank
People counted
458
458 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bretta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bretta is White at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Bretta described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Bretta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.4% · 373
- Black or African American9.4% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 16
- Two or more races3.5% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Bretta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bretta from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 108 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bretta by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Bretta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bretta
The name Bretta originates from the Old Germanic language family, and its earliest roots can be traced back to the 5th century CE. It is believed to be derived from the Germanic word "briht," which means "bright" or "shining." This name was initially popular among the Anglo-Saxon tribes that inhabited parts of modern-day England and northern Germany.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bretta can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record compiled in the late 9th century CE. The chronicle mentions a nobleman named Bretta who was a prominent figure in the court of King Alfred the Great of Wessex.
During the Middle Ages, the name Bretta gained popularity across various regions of Europe, particularly in England and parts of Scandinavia. It was associated with qualities such as radiance, purity, and nobility.
In the 11th century, a notable figure named Bretta of Mainz was a prominent abbess and religious leader in the Holy Roman Empire. She was known for her dedication to education and her efforts in establishing schools for women.
Bretta was also the name of a 12th-century noblewoman from the Kingdom of Navarre, who played a significant role in the political affairs of the region during her lifetime.
In the 15th century, a renowned Italian poet and humanist named Bretta Accolti gained recognition for her literary works and contributions to the Renaissance movement.
Another notable bearer of the name was Bretta Holzinger, a 16th-century German physician and herbalist who made significant contributions to the study of medicinal plants and their applications.
While the name Bretta has fallen out of widespread use in recent times, it remains a unique and historically significant name with a rich heritage spanning various cultures and eras.
People
Bretta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bretta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bretta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bretta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 367 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bretta going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 933,936 US residents.
Is Bretta a common name?
We classify Bretta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 419 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bretta most popular?
The single biggest year for Bretta was 1970, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bretta is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bretta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 458 people with the name Bretta, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,926 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Bretta in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Bretta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bretta leans strongly female. 453 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Bretta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bretta is White at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Bretta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bretta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.4% (373 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Bretta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bretta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bretta in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Bretta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bretta in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Bretta can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Bretta as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.