Koretta
A feminine name of unknown origin and meaning, possibly a variation of Loretta.
Name Census estimates that about 12 living Americans carry the first name Koretta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Koretta today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Koretta births was 1968 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Koretta. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Koretta. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
12
~ 1 in 28,562,862 Americans
Peak year
1968
7 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1971 SSA rank
#6,961
Tracked since 1968
Popularity
Koretta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Koretta from the 1960s through to the 1970s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 7 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Koretta 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 Koretta 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 Koretta
The given name Koretta has its origins in late medieval Europe, deriving from the Latin root "cor" meaning heart. It first emerged as a feminine variant of the name Cornelius, which was initially a Roman family name meaning "of the horn" or "horny" in reference to an amulet or charm worn to bring good luck and fertility.
The earliest recorded use of Koretta dates back to the 13th century, found in monastic records from Northern Italy and Southern France. It was a relatively uncommon name at the time, primarily given to girls born into devoutly Catholic families as a nod to the Virgin Mary's immaculate heart. Over the subsequent centuries, the name spread gradually across Western Europe, particularly in regions with strong Catholic traditions.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Koretta was Koretta of Arles, a 14th-century French nun and mystic known for her visions and prophecies. She lived from approximately 1330 to 1399 and is venerated as a blessed within certain Catholic orders. Another early bearer of the name was Koretta Rasponi, an Italian noblewoman from Ravenna who lived from 1350 to 1419 and was renowned for her philanthropic work and sponsorship of the arts.
In the 16th century, the name gained some prominence with Koretta Gonzaga, an Italian Renaissance noblewoman born in 1535. She was the daughter of the Duke of Mantua and Monferrato and is remembered for her patronage of the arts and her influential salon which attracted many of the era's great thinkers and writers.
Crossing over into the 17th century, Koretta van der Linden was a Dutch Golden Age painter active in the early 1600s. She specialized in still life paintings and is considered one of the first notable female artists from the Netherlands. Another bearer of the name from this period was Koretta de' Medici, an Italian noble born in 1611 who became the Duchess of Bracciano through her marriage to Paolo Giordano Orsini.
As the name travelled further afield, one of the earliest known examples in the New World was Koretta Rodríguez, a Spanish colonist who arrived in Mexico in the late 17th century. She played a significant role in the establishment of the city of San Miguel de Allende, which became an important center of Mexican culture and architecture.
People
Koretta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Koretta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Koretta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Koretta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Koretta 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 28,562,862 US residents.
Is Koretta a common name?
We classify Koretta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 32.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Koretta most popular?
The single biggest year for Koretta was 1968, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Koretta is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Koretta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Koretta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Koretta 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 Koretta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Koretta 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 Koretta 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Koretta?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.