Girls' name · peaked in 1938
Loretta name popularity since 1925
143,116 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Loretta. Half of them were born in 1949 or earlier, so the typical Loretta is about 77 years old in 2026. Loretta peaked in 1938 as the #62 name for girls, and it ranked #606 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 143,116
- Named Loretta, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- #606
- for girls in 2025 (485 babies)
- Girls / boys
- 99.7% girls
- 142,670 girls · 446 boys
- Most popular in
- West Virginia
- 2.76× its national share
Peak year is the year Loretta made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Loretta births per year, 1925–2025
1938 was the biggest year for Loretta both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Steepest fall: Between 1973 and 1978, Loretta's share of baby girls fell by 53%, from 1 in 1,500 to 1 in 3,180.
- Fastest rise: Between 2011 and 2016, it became 2.1× more common, from 1 in 15,800 baby girls to 1 in 7,380.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Loretta's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Loretta.
Decade by decade
Babies named Loretta in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 10,316 | 43 | – |
| 1930s | 31,537 | 145 | #69 |
| 1940s | 30,121 | 83 | #107 |
| 1950s | 30,394 | 80 | #123 |
| 1960s | 22,070 | 80 | #185 |
| 1970s | 8,640 | 10 | #301 |
| 1980s | 3,279 | 5 | #645 |
| 1990s | 1,380 | 0 | #1,334 |
| 2000s | 932 | 0 | #1,887 |
| 2010s | 1,804 | 0 | #1,154 |
| 2020–25 | 2,197 | 0 | #606 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
38.7% of babies named Loretta from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Loretta is most popular
The index compares Loretta's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Loretta.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | 2.76× | 3,427 |
| New Mexico | 2.06× | 1,607 |
| North Dakota | 1.86× | 826 |
| Kentucky | 1.83× | 4,323 |
| Oklahoma | 1.61× | 2,951 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Loretta and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Loretta (this page) | 142,670 | 1938 |
| Lorretta | 2,330 | 1939 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Loretta's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Loretta.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Loretta (1938).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data