The baby name Greta blends a sort of fairytale energy with Hollywood glam and a certain amount of timeless style, too.
Thanks to Abbey for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME GRETA MEAN?
The baby name Greta started out as short form of Margaret, one of many.
Margaret comes from the Greek margarites, meaning pearl. The Latin name Margarita evolved from there. The name is also associated with a flower, the daisy. That’s because the French equivalent of Margarita, Marguerite, is the name for the flower, too.
Greta occurs in German, but also Italian and Swedish. In fact, you’ll hear across much of Europe and throughout the English-speaking world.
You can almost hear Greta nested in Margaret, but a common variant of the name makes it even clearer how this nickname developed: Margareta.
It’s not the only diminutive starting with Gr. There’s Gretchen, a name that peaked in the 1970s and fell out of use not long after Mean Girls became an early twenty-first century sensation. Gretel, too, comes from Margaret, but despite Hollywood revamps of the classic tale, it’s never caught on in the US.
By twenty-first century standards, Greta feels more like a stand-alone name, independent from Margaret, but borrowing some of the classic name’s strength.
The same can be true for many a Margaret nickname: Maisie, Margot, Rita, and Megan all owe their starts to this classic name, but are more likely to be given independently.
GRETA GARBO
The future Hollywood icon Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson in Stockholm in 1905.
She rose to fame in silent films, and became one of the few leading ladies to make the transition to talkies.
In 1930, Garbo earned an Oscar nomination for her first role with sound, as Anna Christie in an adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer-winning play of the same name. More nominations followed over the next two decades, for Camille and Two-Faced Woman, but she never took home the statue. She’s also known for her portrayal of the title role in 1935’s Anna Karenina.
The iconic Garbo ranks in the Top Ten of the American Film Institute’s Greatest American Screen Legends list. This puts the actress in the company of women like Katharine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.
Garbo retired in 1941, and attempted to live a low-profile, if luxurious, existence. We remember her uttering “I want to be alone” in 1932’s Grand Hotel. Later in life, she’d quibble with the meaning, emphasizing that her character wasn’t looking for mere solitude, but a certain freedom from demands.
In any case, the name skyrocketed in use as her career flourished, suggesting that Greta Garbo was the source of baby name inspiration for many parents.
MORE FAMOUS WOMEN NAMED GRETA
More famous women by the name include:
- Journalist Greta Van Susteren
- Filmmaker Greta Gerwig
- Nobel Peace Prize nominee Greta Thunberg, known for her environmental activism
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME GRETA?
The baby name Greta ranks in the US Top 1000 nearly every year from the late nineteenth century through the 1980s.
It waned in popularity for a few decades, but returned to the rankings at the turn of the twenty-first century.
But Greta has never been particularly common. At peak popularity, in the 1930s, the name didn’t even crack the US Top 300.
As of 2023, it’s fallen to a relatively rare #933.
Instead, Greta is quite popular in Italy, where it currently ranks in the Top 25, and has been a Top Ten choice in recent years.
The baby name Greta is also heard across Europe and throughout the English-speaking world.
It’s possible, of course, that some of the many Margarets answered to Greta. But Peggy and Maggie and Meg seem like the more popular options over the years.
CLASSIC ROOTS, SURPRISING SOUND
Overall, the baby name Greta offers a perfect compromise for plenty of parents. It’s brief and complete, but doesn’t feel like a nickname.
There’s a strength to the name, thanks to a long association with classic, capable Margaret.
It’s an alternative to Top 100 staples like Grace, Alice, and Audrey.
Greta could be the perfect name for parents seeking a balance of the timeless and the unexpected.
What do you think of the baby name Greta?
First published on July 29, 2011, this post was revised on June 3, 2020 and February 21, 2025.
I was born in England just prior to WW2. My name is pronounced greetah but is spelled Greta. I was told that was the way it was pronounced in England. Having emmigrated to North America as a child with family, I have had to put up with being called Gre-tah since a child by those other than close firends and family.
I like my name but not the mispronunciation of it.
I watched the movie “Begin Again” this weekend and Keira Knightley plays a Gretta. I really liked the name in the film and have added it to my shortlist, though I prefer the more common Greta spelling.
Love this name. Sounds tough and sweet at the same time. I prefer Gretchen — one of my favorite girl names ever — but my wife hates it. So it never made any traction when we were discussing baby names.
Gretchen makes me think of Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project. It makes me really, really love the name. There was a rumor that they were adapting her book for television with Kristin Davis as Gretchen – wonder what ever happened?