Aretha

Primarily a girl's name · 100% girls

Meaning

Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Regarded as the "Queen of Soul", she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time.

From Wikipedia

Aretha first appears in the data in 1900 and has been recorded in 110 different years as a girl's name. Its single biggest year was 1968 with 543 babies (rank #398 that year). It was not in the 2024 data. The name has been rising over the last five years.

Numerology of Aretha

In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Aretha yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.

8Destiny numberThe achieverDriven, capable, comfortable wielding influence.Sum of every letter. The overall character a name carries.
7Soul urgeThe seekerIntrospective, analytical, drawn to the unknown.Sum of the vowels — what's said to drive the heart.
1PersonalityThe leaderIndependent, pioneering, drawn to going first.Sum of the consonants — the outer impression.

5,656

Total babies (all years)

110

Years in the data

543

Peak in a single year

Popularity Over Time — Girls

Famous people named Aretha

Aretha Franklinsoul musician · b. 1942

Share your Aretha story

Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.

More popular girls' names

Other girls' names starting with A

Year-by-Year Detail

Rank is among all girls' names registered that year.

Year	Babies	Rank
1900	5	#1,947
1902	7	#1,450
1903	7	#1,451
1905	6	#1,711
1906	5	#1,969
1907	12	#1,144
1908	9	#1,445
1909	13	#1,155
1910	10	#1,526
1911	12	#1,377
1912	13	#1,543
1913	18	#1,362
1914	24	#1,264
1915	30	#1,287
1916	17	#1,952
1917	33	#1,263
1918	24	#1,647
1919	41	#1,158
1920	31	#1,442
1921	33	#1,411
1922	46	#1,127
1923	45	#1,143
1924	30	#1,534
1925	46	#1,137
1926	39	#1,243
1927	15	#2,344
1928	27	#1,547
1929	32	#1,342
1930	37	#1,234
1931	23	#1,598
1932	39	#1,149
1933	34	#1,225
1934	39	#1,133
1935	36	#1,183
1936	31	#1,297
1937	31	#1,305
1938	30	#1,344
1939	39	#1,162
1940	28	#1,444
1941	20	#1,814
1942	31	#1,476
1943	28	#1,592
1944	33	#1,402
1945	34	#1,377
1946	34	#1,508
1947	32	#1,699
1948	44	#1,386
1949	31	#1,700
1950	36	#1,550
1951	32	#1,703
1952	36	#1,612
1953	27	#1,974
1954	31	#1,877
1955	30	#1,941
1956	38	#1,719
1957	47	#1,571
1958	34	#1,874
1959	44	#1,645
1960	59	#1,432
1961	110	#1,045
1962	130	#931
1963	110	#1,016
1964	123	#948
1965	148	#818
1966	91	#1,102
1967	385	#484
1968	543	#398
1969	309	#563
1970	257	#639
1971	237	#666
1972	199	#718
1973	147	#875
1974	153	#855
1975	117	#1,026
1976	97	#1,173
1977	91	#1,286
1978	80	#1,434
1979	64	#1,715
1980	55	#1,938
1981	54	#1,959
1982	50	#2,054
1983	33	#2,663
1984	40	#2,384
1985	26	#3,331
1986	34	#2,782
1987	27	#3,341
1988	26	#3,590
1989	23	#4,128
1990	25	#4,011
1991	21	#4,664
1992	17	#5,500
1993	12	#7,070
1994	14	#6,348
1995	9	#8,829
1997	8	#9,887
1998	7	#11,240
1999	10	#8,864
2000	5	#15,262
2001	6	#13,683
2002	7	#12,335
2006	5	#17,447
2008	7	#14,002
2010	7	#13,620
2011	5	#17,049
2013	6	#14,802
2017	5	#16,145
2018	5	#15,940
2021	6	#13,643
2022	6	#13,760
2023	6	#13,616