Rhema vs Rheta
American parents have registered 1,290 Rhemas since 1880, against 1,200 Rhetas. Rhema is still ahead, with 115 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Rhema Rheta
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 104 years in which either name was published, Rheta for 60 years and Rhema for 44 years. The lead changed hands once.
Side by side
| Rhema | Rheta | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,290 | 1,200 |
| Most in one year | 115 | 151 |
| Babies in 2025 | 115 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 1,300 | 420 |
| Median age today | 9 | 77 |
| Peak year | 2025 | 1934 |
| Best rank | 1,758th girls | 526th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 1,758th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1981 | 1893 |
| Girls / boys | 1,270 / 20 | 1,200 / 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 Rhetas alive today are over 77; half the Rhemas are over 9. That is 68 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Rhema Texas (4.8×), California (2.3×)
- Rheta New York (1.7×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Rhema and Rheta.