Gretha
A feminine name of Scandinavian origin meaning "pearl".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Gretha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gretha today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gretha births was 1928 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gretha. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Gretha is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Grethas were born before 1966.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gretha. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
1928
8 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
1966 SSA rank
#6,052
Tracked since 1916
Census
Gretha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 133 people with the first name Gretha, which placed it at #48,223 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
#48,223
National first-name rank
People counted
133
133 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gretha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gretha is Black at 39.8%. The next largest groups are White (37.6%) and Hispanic (20.3%). 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 Gretha 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 Gretha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.8% · 53
- White37.6% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino20.3% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 1
Popularity
Gretha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gretha from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 16 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1930s peak, Gretha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gretha 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 Gretha 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 Gretha
The name Gretha is a feminine given name of Germanic origin, believed to have derived from the Old Norse word "grið," which means "peace" or "truce." It is a variation of the name Greta, which has been in use since the Middle Ages.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Gretha can be traced back to medieval Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark and Sweden. It was a popular name among the Norse people during the Viking Age, which spanned from the late 8th century to the late 11th century.
In the 13th century, the name Gretha appeared in the Icelandic Sagas, which are a collection of historical narratives written in Old Norse prose. One notable example is the Saga of Grettir the Strong, where a female character named Gretha was mentioned.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Gretha. One of the earliest recorded was Gretha of Rendsburg (1019-1085), a Danish noblewoman and the wife of King Sweyn II of Denmark. Another notable figure was Gretha of Burchard (1185-1248), a German abbess and the founder of the Benedictine convent of Helfta.
In the 16th century, Gretha Mayring (1492-1552) was a German writer and one of the earliest female authors to publish works in the German language. During the 17th century, Gretha Huitfeldt (1610-1678) was a Norwegian-Danish noble and landowner who played a significant role in the development of Norwegian agriculture.
Moving into the 19th century, Gretha von Bismarckschen (1824-1894) was a German aristocrat and the wife of Otto von Bismarck, the first Chancellor of the German Empire. She was known for her charitable works and her support for her husband's political career.
These examples illustrate the historical use and significance of the name Gretha across various cultures and time periods, particularly in Germanic and Scandinavian regions. While its popularity may have waxed and waned over the centuries, the name Gretha has left an indelible mark on history.
People
Gretha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gretha 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
Gretha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gretha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gretha 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Gretha a common name?
We classify Gretha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 41 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gretha most popular?
The single biggest year for Gretha was 1928, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gretha is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gretha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 133 people with the name Gretha, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,223 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 Gretha 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 Gretha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gretha appears almost entirely female. Of the 137 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Gretha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gretha is Black at 39.8%. The next largest groups are White (37.6%) and Hispanic (20.3%). 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 Gretha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Gretha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.8% (53 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 Gretha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gretha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gretha 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 Gretha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gretha 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 Gretha 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 are named Gretha?
Want to know how many people have the name Gretha? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.