Henretta
The feminine name of English origin meaning "a rich estate ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 185 living Americans carry the first name Henretta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Henretta today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Henretta births was 1916 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Henretta. 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 Henretta is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Henrettas were born before 1959.
People living today
185
~ 1 in 1,852,726 Americans
Peak year
1916
50 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1979 SSA rank
#10,750
Tracked since 1882
Census
Henretta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 172 people with the first name Henretta, which placed it at #42,074 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
#42,074
National first-name rank
People counted
172
172 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Henretta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Henretta is Black at 79.7%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Hispanic (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 Henretta 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 Henretta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.7% · 137
- White15.7% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 6
- Two or more races1.2% · 2
Popularity
Henretta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Henretta from the 1880s through to the 1970s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 303 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Henretta 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 Henretta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Henrettas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama recorded the most babies named Henretta, while Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Henretta
The given name Henretta is a feminine variation of the masculine name Henry, which is of Germanic origin. The name Henry is derived from the Old German name Heimrich, composed of the elements "heim" meaning "home" and "ric" meaning "power" or "ruler." The earliest known record of the name Henretta dates back to the 16th century in England.
One of the earliest known references to the name Henretta can be found in the parish records of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Oxford, England, where a woman named Henretta Hastings was baptized in 1587. In the 17th century, Henretta Burgess, a notable Quaker preacher, was born in 1631 in Bristol, England.
During the 18th century, the name Henretta gained popularity among the upper classes in England. Henretta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, was a prominent figure at the court of King George I in the early 1700s. Another notable bearer of the name was Henretta Bouverie, Countess of Radnor, who lived from 1766 to 1824.
In the 19th century, Henretta Constable was a prominent English philanthropist and social reformer. She was born in 1828 and dedicated her life to improving the living conditions of the working classes in London. Meanwhile, in the United States, Henretta Hale was a notable abolitionist and women's rights activist, born in 1816 in New Hampshire.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Henretta was Henretta Elizabeth Browne, also known as Henrietta Elizabeth Browne, an accomplished Irish poet and author who lived from 1808 to 1879. Her works, including "Vision of Feudal Times" and "Lady Eveline," were widely acclaimed in her time.
These examples demonstrate the rich history and notable individuals who have carried the given name Henretta throughout the centuries, spanning various cultures and regions.
People
Henretta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Henretta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Henretta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Henretta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 185 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Henretta 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 1,852,726 US residents.
Is Henretta a common name?
We classify Henretta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,286 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Henretta most popular?
The single biggest year for Henretta was 1916, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Henretta is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Henretta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 172 people with the name Henretta, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,074 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 Henretta 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 Henretta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Henretta leans strongly female. 164 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Henretta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Henretta is Black at 79.7%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Hispanic (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 Henretta most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Henretta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.7% (137 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 Henretta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Henretta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Henretta 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 Henretta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Henretta 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 Henretta 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 Henretta as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Henretta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.