Rhett
A masculine name of English origin meaning "advice; counsel".
Name Census estimates that about 34,101 living Americans carry the first name Rhett. It sits at #174 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Rhett today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rhett births was 2021 (2,554 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rhett. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Rhett with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Rhett is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 232 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Rhett is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
34K
~ 1 in 10,051 Americans
Peak year
2021
2,554 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#174
Tracked since 1917
Census
Rhett in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 21,554 people with the first name Rhett, which placed it at #1,528 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
#1,528
National first-name rank
People counted
22K
21,554 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rhett
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rhett is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.0%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Rhett 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 Rhett at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.1% · 19,425
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 872
- Two or more races3.8% · 824
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 164
- Black or African American0.7% · 159
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 110
Gender
Gender distribution for Rhett
Out of the 34,953 babies given the name Rhett since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Rhett as a male name
- Ranked #174 in 2024
- 2,134 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (2,538 births)
Rhett as a female name
- Ranked #8,824 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rhett leans strongly male. 21,319 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 230 female bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Rhett: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rhett from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 13,173 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
Rhett 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 Rhett during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rhetts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Rhett, while Rhode Island, Hawaii, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 625 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rhett
The name Rhett is an English given name with roots in Old English and Old Norse languages. It is derived from the Old English word "hræt," meaning "reed" or "bulrush," and the Old Norse word "hriðr," meaning "storm" or "tempest."
The earliest recorded use of the name Rhett dates back to the 13th century in England. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Rhett de Swynnerton, a knight from Staffordshire, England, who lived in the late 13th century.
In literature, the name gained prominence with the publication of Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" in 1936. The novel's main character, Rhett Butler, played a significant role in popularizing the name. Rhett Butler, a dashing and charming character, was portrayed by Clark Gable in the 1939 film adaptation of the novel.
Other notable individuals named Rhett throughout history include:
1. Rhett Ellison (born 1988), an American football player for the Indianapolis Colts.
2. Rhett Miller (born 1970), an American singer-songwriter and lead vocalist of the band Old 97's.
3. Rhett Lawson (born 1995), an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Gold Coast Suns.
4. Rhett Akins (born 1969), an American country music singer-songwriter and record producer.
5. Rhett Forrester (born 1955), an American singer-songwriter and musician best known for his work with the band Robin Trower.
While the name Rhett is not as common as some other English names, it has maintained a steady presence throughout history, particularly after the success of "Gone with the Wind." Its unique sound and literary associations have contributed to its enduring appeal as a given name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rhett
People
Rhett + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rhett 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
Rhett: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rhett?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 34,101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rhett 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 10,051 US residents.
Is Rhett a common name?
We classify Rhett as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 34,953 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rhett most popular?
The single biggest year for Rhett was 2021, when 2,554 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rhett is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rhett in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 21,554 people with the name Rhett, or 7.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,528 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 Rhett 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 Rhett?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rhett leans strongly male. 21,319 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 230 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Rhett?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rhett is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.0%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Rhett most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rhett in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.1% (19,425 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 Rhett in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rhett a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Rhett in the SSA data are male. 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 Rhett still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rhett 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 Rhett 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 the name Rhett?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Rhett, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.