Iretha
A feminine given name of unknown origin with possible meanings of "earth" or "peace".
Name Census estimates that about 131 living Americans carry the first name Iretha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Iretha today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Iretha births was 1957 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Iretha. 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 Iretha is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Irethas were born before 1966.
People living today
131
~ 1 in 2,616,445 Americans
Peak year
1957
16 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
1977 SSA rank
#10,182
Tracked since 1915
Census
Iretha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 186 people with the first name Iretha, which placed it at #40,168 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
#40,168
National first-name rank
People counted
186
186 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Iretha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iretha is Black at 79.0%. The next largest groups are White (15.6%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Iretha 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 Iretha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.0% · 147
- White15.6% · 29
- Two or more races2.7% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 1
Popularity
Iretha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Iretha from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 88 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Iretha 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 Iretha 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 Iretha
The name Iretha is believed to have originated in ancient Greece, derived from the Greek word "eirene," which means "peace." This suggests that the name may have been given to children born during times of peace or tranquility.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Iretha can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. He mentioned a woman named Iretha who was a priestess in the temple of Athena in the city of Athens.
During the Byzantine Empire, which lasted from the 4th to the 15th century AD, the name Iretha was relatively common among Greek and Eastern Orthodox Christian families. It was often given to girls as a way of expressing a wish for peace and harmony in their lives.
In the Middle Ages, the name Iretha was also used in some parts of Europe, particularly in regions influenced by Greek culture and the Eastern Orthodox Church. One notable example is Iretha of Münster, a German noblewoman who lived in the 12th century and was known for her charitable works and support of the arts.
As the Renaissance period dawned in the 15th and 16th centuries, the name Iretha gained popularity in Italy, where it was often spelled as "Ireta" or "Iretta." One famous bearer of the name during this time was Ireta Caraffa, an Italian painter and sculptor who lived from 1476 to 1559.
Another notable figure named Iretha was Iretha Williamson, an American abolitionist and feminist who lived from 1800 to 1876. She was actively involved in the anti-slavery movement and fought for women's rights, particularly in the field of education.
In the 20th century, Iretha was the name of Iretha Barnhart, an American actress who appeared in several films and television shows between the 1940s and 1960s. She was born in 1916 and passed away in 1994.
Additionally, Iretha Ferguson was an American jazz singer and songwriter who was active in the 1950s and 1960s. She was known for her unique vocal style and collaborations with renowned musicians of the time.
People
Iretha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Iretha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Iretha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Iretha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 131 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Iretha 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 2,616,445 US residents.
Is Iretha a common name?
We classify Iretha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 359 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Iretha most popular?
The single biggest year for Iretha was 1957, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Iretha 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 Iretha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 186 people with the name Iretha, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,168 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 Iretha 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 Iretha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Iretha appears almost entirely female. Of the 189 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Iretha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iretha is Black at 79.0%. The next largest groups are White (15.6%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Iretha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Iretha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.0% (147 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 Iretha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Iretha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Iretha 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 Iretha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Iretha 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 Iretha 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 Americans are named Iretha?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Iretha at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.