Reta

Meaning & origin

No verified etymology recorded for this name yet — the entries below are drawn from usage statistics and the name graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Reta is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name48K records spelled Reta7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia

  Also written Rêtą, Rētā, Rétá, Retá, Retä

• Hindi given name41K records spelled Reta117 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Bangladesh, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hindi, Bangla, Urdu

  Also written Rita, Reeta, রীতা, রিতা, Rata

• Amharic given name1.9K records spelled Reta3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ethiopia, United States, India, Syria

  Also written ረታ, ሬታ

• Portuguese given name1.5K records spelled Reta3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Portugal, United Kingdom

  Also written Retã, Réta

• French given name1.5K records spelled Reta6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, Syria

  Also written Réta, Rétà, Rétä, Rètà

48 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Reta is also recorded in 6 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Esperanto, net (in most senses, including mesh, tool for trapping, figurative, computing network, Internet)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In iba, property, inheritance, estate

  as a word·Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (ACD), CLDF v2.0

• In Portuguese, feminine singular of reto

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Polish, synonym of ratunek

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In iba, property

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, to tease

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 112 years between 1880–1998. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Reta Oldhamb. 1870IEIrish teacher
• Reta Mildred Findlayb. 1893Australian businesswoman
• Reta Cowleyb. 1910CACanadian painter
• Reta Friebelb. 1918DEGerman politician
• Reta Beebeb. 1936USAmerican astronomer and author
• Reta Jo Lewisb. 1952USAmerican diplomat, lawyer, and businesswoman
• Susan Reta LambNZNew Zealander awarded a Rhodes scholarship in 1992 at Balliol

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 356 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Reta?

We estimate roughly 4.4 thousand people bear Reta (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Reta have the most bearers?

We estimate about 4.3 thousand people bear Reta in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled reta.

Is Reta a male or female name?

Reta is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.