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 love Greta! Greta seems seems strong, elegant, classy, someone who gets things done and is not afraid of anyone.
Not my hubby’s style at all, so I’ll never use it in real life, but I have used it in a children’s story. Interestingly enough, Vera, which equals Greta in popularity, is the name of the girl in my new story. (Nothing I’ll ever publish, as I’m a terrible writer, but I enjoy writing for myself and my daughter.)
My 1 year old is a darling little Greta! I was obsessed with the name when a friend (who has a Margaret, nn Maggie) mentioned it before I was even pregnant. Unique but not weird, and I love the German roots. And it took me quite awhile to not automatically type Great instead, which perfectly describes our Greta.
It’s always fun to write about a name that seems relatively underused and hear that it is being worn so well by real-life people!
Thanks for such a wonderful write up (and for selecting such a gorgeous photo of the Greta of all Gretas (swoon!)). Interesting–but not terribly surprising–that there’s such strong love and hate for this name. But, despite my dislike of the name Gretchen (for the exact reasons identified by some of the negative responders above), I’m still loving sweet Greta and it remains our first choice if our second is a girl.
I like Greta, and I like Margaret. I also like some of the variations that Abby mentioned in the beginning. My favorite Margaret nickname would be Margot, followed by Daisy and Pearl. I would love to meet a little Greta, and wouldn’t hesitate to use it if my future husband was dead set on it. Nice choice, Abby!
Love it! Considered it for our 2nd girl in 2007.
I like Greta, though I don’t like that the T is pronounced (at least in my accent) closer to a D. That said, I would love to meet a little Greta!
A lot of 2-syllable-ends-in-A girls names are getting pretty tired. Choices like Greta and Vera would be breaths of fresh air 😉
I like Greta. Makes me think of fairytale Gretel and the name Grace. I’ve never known a Greta, so that gives it plus-points to me. And I do like girls names ending in ‘a’. Plus it does have a ‘strong’ image in my mind, which is nice for a girls name.
Having lived in the US for 10 years, I don’t have the negative word associations of grotty and grit anymore.
I guess I’d never actually use the name though, since we already have a G named child and I’d prefer to not repeat initials.
I have a 10-yr-old cousin named Greta, which I also always type as great. 🙂
I’m not a big fan of G- names in general (don’t much care for that letter), but Greta has lots of qualities I like in girls’ names – short, snappy, lots of consonants.
Count me in as a ‘yea’ for Greta. I prefer Marjorie as a Margaret derivative, but Greta definitely is the more exotic twist, rather than the sweet, girlish, botanical side of Marjorie. I really like Greta and the possible use of it as a nickname might even persuade me to consider the Margery spelling (then you get *both* names – score!)
Put me in the “fan” column. I find it classic but quirky, feminine but very strong, uncommon but not weird. Personally, I would use it, though it’s not at the very top of my list. I think the main thing holding it back, along with the sort of counter-cultural nonvowel-ness, is that it never completely dropped off the face of the earth. Unlike Ava, everyone probably knew at least a couple of Gretas, or at least Gretchens. So it’s one of those names that just sort of hovers around the same popularity level.