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Rhett vs Rhetta

American parents have registered 36,920 Rhetts since 1880, against 621 Rhettas. Rhett is still ahead, with 1,955 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Rhett against Rhetta, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Rhett Rhetta

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 110 years in which either name was published, Rhett for 87 years and Rhetta for 23 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Rhett Rhetta
Total US births 36,920621
Most in one year 2,55418
Babies in 2025 1,9558
Estimated living today 36,000380
Median age today 766
Peak year 20211941
Best rank 149th boys1,954th girls
Rank in 2025 188th10,917th
First recorded 19171895
Girls / boys 251 / 36,669621 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Rhettas alive today are over 66; half the Rhetts are over 7. That is 59 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Rhett and Rhetta.