Greta
A feminine name of German origin meaning "pearl".
Name Census estimates that about 20,228 living Americans carry the first name Greta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Greta today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Greta births was 1967 (534 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Greta. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Greta with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 16,945 Americans
Peak year
1967
534 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1934 SSA rank
#855
Tracked since 1885
Census
Greta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,243 people with the first name Greta, which placed it at #1,500 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
#1,500
National first-name rank
People counted
22K
22,243 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Greta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Greta is White at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Black (9.6%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Greta 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 Greta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.4% · 18,098
- Black or African American9.6% · 2,136
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 1,106
- Two or more races2.3% · 518
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 307
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 78
Gender
Gender distribution for Greta
Out of the 27,501 babies given the name Greta since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Greta as a male name
- Ranked #3,893 in 1934
- 5 male births in 1934
- Peak: 1934 (5 births)
Greta as a female name
- Ranked #855 in 2024
- 314 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1967 (534 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Greta appears almost entirely female. Of the 22,240 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Greta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Greta from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,712 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Greta remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Greta 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 Greta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gretas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Minnesota, New York, California recorded the most babies named Greta, while Alaska, Rhode Island, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 452 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Greta
The name Greta originated from the Germanic root "graut" or "grait", which means "pearl" or "jewel". It first appeared as a feminine name in medieval Germany and Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, around the 12th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Greta is found in the Old Norse saga "Heimskringla", written by the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century. The saga mentions a Norwegian woman named Greta who lived in the 11th century.
In the 14th century, the name Greta was popularized by St. Gertrude the Great, a German Benedictine nun and mystic who was born in 1256 and died in 1302. She is also known as St. Gertrude of Helfta and is venerated as a patron saint of mystics and gardeners.
Another notable historical figure with the name Greta was Greta Holm, a Swedish actress born in 1904 and died in 1993. She starred in several Swedish and German films during the silent movie era and is considered one of the pioneers of Swedish cinema.
In the literary world, Greta Garbo, born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in 1905 and died in 1990, was a Swedish-American film actress who is widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of Hollywood's golden age. She is known for her roles in films such as "Flesh and the Devil", "Grand Hotel", and "Camille".
Another famous bearer of the name Greta was Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmental activist born in 2003. She gained international recognition for her activism against climate change and her powerful speeches urging world leaders to take action on the climate crisis.
Greta Schröder, born in 1965, is a German politician who served as the Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from 2002 to 2005. She was also a member of the German Bundestag from 1998 to 2009.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Greta
People
Greta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Greta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Greta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Greta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,228 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Greta 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 16,945 US residents.
Is Greta a common name?
We classify Greta as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 27,501 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Greta most popular?
The single biggest year for Greta was 1967, when 534 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Greta is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Greta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,243 people with the name Greta, or 7.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,500 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 Greta 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 Greta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Greta appears almost entirely female. Of the 22,240 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Greta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Greta is White at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Black (9.6%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Greta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Greta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.4% (18,098 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 Greta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Greta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Greta 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 Greta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Greta 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 Greta 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 Greta as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Greta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.