Letta
A feminine name of English origin meaning "little one."
Name Census estimates that about 233 living Americans carry the first name Letta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Letta today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Letta births was 1971 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Letta. 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.
People living today
233
~ 1 in 1,471,049 Americans
Peak year
1971
24 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,853
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Letta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Letta from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 111 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Letta 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 Letta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lettas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Letta
The name Letta finds its origins in the Old Germanic language, tracing back to the 5th century AD. It is a derivative of the Germanic root "lét," which means "joy" or "happiness." This name was prevalent among the Germanic tribes that inhabited regions of modern-day Germany, the Netherlands, and parts of Scandinavia during the early medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Letta can be found in the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century manuscript containing a translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. In this text, the name appears as "Letta," referring to a woman mentioned in the Book of Acts.
During the Middle Ages, the name Letta gained popularity across Europe, particularly in regions influenced by Germanic culture. In the 11th century, a noblewoman named Letta von Schönburg was recorded as the wife of Count Burkhard von Schönburg, a prominent figure in the Holy Roman Empire.
In the 13th century, a Italian Benedictine nun named Letta di Caserta lived in the monastery of San Lorenzo in Naples. She was renowned for her piety and wisdom, and her writings on spiritual matters were widely circulated during her lifetime.
The 16th century saw the rise of a German painter named Letta Goudriaan, who was celebrated for her portraits and religious works. Her paintings can still be found in several churches and museums across Germany.
In more recent times, one of the most notable individuals named Letta was Enrico Letta, an Italian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2013 to 2014. He was born in 1966 and played a significant role in Italian politics during the early 21st century.
Other notable individuals named Letta throughout history include Letta Aul, an Estonian writer and poet who lived from 1905 to 1985; Letta Nason, an American artist and printmaker active in the early 20th century; and Letta Schmalhausen, a Russian-American mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of differential geometry between 1911 and 1995.
People
Letta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Letta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Letta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Letta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 233 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Letta 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 1,471,049 US residents.
Is Letta a common name?
We classify Letta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 775 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Letta most popular?
The single biggest year for Letta was 1971, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Letta is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Letta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Letta 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.
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.