Renetta
A feminine name of French origin meaning "reborn".
Name Census estimates that about 1,059 living Americans carry the first name Renetta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Renetta today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renetta births was 1962 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renetta. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 323,658 Americans
Peak year
1962
56 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1998 SSA rank
#16,015
Tracked since 1910
Census
Renetta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,159 people with the first name Renetta, which placed it at #11,196 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
#11,196
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,159 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Renetta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renetta is Black at 56.9%. The next largest groups are White (36.5%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Renetta 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 Renetta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.9% · 660
- White36.5% · 423
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 30
- Two or more races2.2% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
Popularity
Renetta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renetta from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 411 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Renetta 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 Renetta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Renettas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Illinois, Texas, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Renetta, while North Carolina, District of Columbia, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Renetta
The name Renetta is derived from the French feminine form of the name Renatus, which in turn is derived from the Latin word "renatus" meaning "reborn" or "born again." This Latin root can be traced back to the Late Roman period, around the 4th or 5th century AD.
The name Renetta was particularly popular in certain regions of France during the Middle Ages, especially in the areas of Normandy and Brittany. It is believed that the name may have been introduced to these regions by Norman settlers who brought it with them from their ancestral homelands.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Renetta can be found in a 12th-century French manuscript, which mentions a noble woman named Renetta de Montfort. This suggests that the name was in use among the aristocracy of the time.
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Renetta of Burgundy (c. 1200-1262) was a French noblewoman who served as the Regent of the County of Burgundy during the minority of her son, Hugh IV. Her influence and leadership during this period contributed to the recognition and popularity of the name.
Another historical figure bearing the name Renetta was Renetta de Courtenay (c. 1268-1298), a member of the noble Courtenay family in France. She was married to Philip of Artois, a prominent military leader during the Crusades.
In the 15th century, Renetta de Trastámara (c. 1444-1508) was a Spanish princess and the daughter of King John II of Aragon. She played a significant role in the political affairs of her time and was known for her intelligence and diplomatic skills.
Renetta Blount (c. 1510-1554) was an English noblewoman who served as a lady-in-waiting to several Tudor queens, including Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Her name was recorded in various court documents and records from the Tudor era.
While the name Renetta has its roots in French and Latin origins, it has also been adopted and used in other cultures throughout history, although with varying degrees of popularity.
People
Renetta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renetta as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Renetta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renetta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,059 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renetta 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 323,658 US residents.
Is Renetta a common name?
We classify Renetta as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,573 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renetta most popular?
The single biggest year for Renetta was 1962, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renetta is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Renetta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,159 people with the name Renetta, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,196 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 Renetta 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 Renetta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renetta appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,166 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Renetta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renetta is Black at 56.9%. The next largest groups are White (36.5%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Renetta most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Renetta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.9% (660 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 Renetta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Renetta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Renetta 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 Renetta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Renetta 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 Renetta 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 called Renetta?
Find out how many people have the name Renetta on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.