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Gender: Female Meaning of Greta: "pearl" Origin of Greta: German, diminutive of Margarethe Greta's Popularity in 2018: #587

Greta Origin and Meaning

The name Greta is a girl's name of German origin meaning "pearl".

Greta is an Old World name long tied to the exotic, iconic Garbo. Along with other Old Hollywood glamour names, Greta seems to be showing slight signs of a comeback; it was chosen by David Caruso and by Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline for their daughters.

Greta is currently popular in Germany, Hungary, and especially Italy. Dr. Greta Guttman was a character on Mad Men, Greta Van Susteren is a familiar face on TV, and Greta Gerwig is an up-and-coming young actress and director.

Greta returned to the Top 1000 in 1999, and hasn’t been this popular since the 1970s. Her highest point was at Number 318 in 1932, at the peak of Garbo's career, the year she starred in Grand Hotel and one year after she was Oscar-nominated for Anna Christie.

Greta is a sweet spot name--sophisticated with a touch of retro glamour. On the other hand, variant Gretel is still out strewing crumbs in the forest with brother Hansel.

16 names similar to Greta

These 16 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Greta. If you didn't find an alternative name that you like better than Greta, try our name generator. It allows you to go beyond the similarities of a name, which can provide a lot of inspiration!

Find other names based on Greta using our baby name generator.

Lists containing Greta

Greta in Blog Posts

Popularity

Rank in US: #587
- this week

Famous People Named Greta

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Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson), Swedish actress
Greta Morgan Salpeter, American pianist and singer of The Hush Sound and Gold Motel
Greta Celeste Gerwig, American actress and director
Greta Van Susteren, American TV journalist and commentator
Greta Scacchi, Italian-Australian actress
Greta Gynt (born Margrethe Woxholt), Norwegian singer, dancer and actress
Greta Andersen, Danish Olympic swimmer
Margarethe "Greta" Schröder, German actress
Gréta Arn, Hungarian tennis player
Greta Caruso, daughter of actor David Caruso
Greta Burrell, daughter of actor Ty Burrell
Greta Lilia Bean (b. 2018), daughter of actors Lyndsy Fonseca and Noah Bean

Pop Culture References for the name Greta

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Georgiana Evelina "Greta" O'Donnell, main character in movie "According to Greta"
Great Aunt Greta, character in the Horrid Henry series
Greta, character in movie "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2"
Greta, human character in video game "Spyro the Dragon"
Greta Grimly, character on TV's "Fargo"
"Greta," song by Stevie Nicks
Greta Van Fleet, American rock band

Nicknames & Variations for Greta

Grete, Grethal, Greatel, Gretha, Gretel, Gretchen, Gretal, Gretna, Grethel, Grieta, Greatal, Grytta, Greeta, Greet

Greta's International Variations

Gryta (Slavic) Gretta, Grette (German) Grietje (Dutch) Gretl (Eastern European) Grethe (Scandinavian) Ghita (Italian)

Comments

eshe7fantasy Says:

2017-06-06T05:00:53

I have been crushing hardcore on this name lately! It sounds adorable.

Greta Mote Says:

2016-04-28T02:03:14

I've had people spell it Greda, can't say I blame them. Even I porunce it gre-da instead of gre-ta

Greta Says:

2016-04-08T07:24:16

My name is Greta too! These things also happen to me and i do love the name if i do say so myself

rdaniel Says:

2015-09-05T06:40:37

Just love this name. Love the look of it, the sound, and the meaning. Unfortunately, my fiance doesn't! :(

headintheclouds Says:

2015-07-31T16:37:08

One of the few older names of this kind that sounds lovely to my ears, amongst others that I don't find appealing, like Hildegarde, Gretchen (I like Greta and Gretel but Gretchen is nails on a chalkboard to me!), Bertha etc. Greta to me sounds very sharp and pointy and weighty, lovely in that glamor-girl vintage clunky way. I can't picture a cute baby named Greta, but I can definitely picture a precocious little girl, well-adjusted teenager and strong adult woman and onwards- it's one of those names you grow into.

MissAussie1992 Says:

2015-07-09T05:28:47

I'd never paid much attention to this name before, but it's actually lovely. Sometimes we dismiss Germanic names without thinking.

gretamae Says:

2015-04-25T03:39:24

My name is Greta! I love my name, although there are definitely pros and cons that come with any given name. Being associated with famous Hollywood 1920s glamour girl "Greta Garbo" is definitely an upside. Although one time we went on a field trip in middle school to a Holocaust museum and one of the Nazis was named Greta...that wasn't fun. I also get it spelled "Gretta" quite often, or I am called Gretchen, Gretel, etc. My name has been mispelled as "Great" in the newspaper several times, which I find sort of funny. People call me Greta the great now because of this. Not a name for everyone, but I like it

SimoneKadele Says:

2015-03-26T00:50:21

Like this a lot!!

Caroline Says:

2014-12-05T08:35:43

I like it but its not in my fave list.

nessette Says:

2014-11-10T19:35:29

I've been crushing on this since I was introduced to the musical artist Greta Salpeter some years ago.

jordalini Says:

2014-11-09T03:28:38

I kind of like it, but I don't at the same time

faithnamer Says:

2014-08-11T20:52:37

This name has always sounded kind of pointy to me, but it is pretty!

Guest Says:

2014-07-22T13:43:37

I would really like this name if it didn't remind me of "regret"

ambg Says:

2014-05-27T23:19:46

Sounds like a girl from a fairy tale. I like it a lot!