Rita
Featured in baby name books
Rita began as a short form of Margarita or Margaret, meaning “pearl,” and one source adds an Indian meaning, “brave, strong.” Rita hit its high point in the 1940s alongside Rita Hayworth, Rita Moreno is another famous bearer, and in 2003 it dropped below the top 1,000. St. Rita, linked with roses, is the patron saint of impossible causes. The namesake is Rita Levi-Montalcini, who defied her father to attend university and became an Italian Nobel laureate.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Girls, The Everything Baby Names Book, Numerology for Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Badass Baby Names
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Usage of Rita in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Rita against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
✅
Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
✅
Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
✅
Hindi
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Hungarian
✅
Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
✅
Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
✅
Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Rita is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Rita in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 174 girls were named Rita, making it the #1285 girls' name in the US. Since 1880, 284,452 girls have been named Rita, with the most (6,653) in 1949. It is most common, relative to births, in Maryland, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Rita in other languages
- Margarita Dutch, Latvian, Spanish
- Маргарита Bulgarian, Russian
- Riitta Finnish
Rita name days
- November 28 Latvia
- July 27 Norway
- May 6 Sweden
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Storms named Rita
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named Rita, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyclone Rita (Category 1) | 2020 | South Pacific | 130 km/h |
| Hurricane Rita (Category 5) | 2005 | North Atlantic | 287 km/h |
| Tropical storm Rita | 2001 | South Pacific | 83 km/h |
| Hurricane Rita (Category 5) | 1978 | Eastern Pacific | 278 km/h |
| Typhoon Rita (Category 1) | 1975 | Western Pacific | 148 km/h |
| Tropical storm Rita | 1975 | Western Pacific | – |
| Typhoon Rita (Category 5) | 1972 | Western Pacific | 269 km/h |
| Tropical storm Rita | 1971 | South Indian Ocean | 83 km/h |
| Tropical storm Rita | 1969 | Western Pacific | 74 km/h |
| Typhoon Rita (Category 1) | 1966 | Western Pacific | 148 km/h |
…and 6 earlier storms.
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named Rita
There are 1,170 towns and villages with Rita in their name, in 40 countries.
🇲🇽 Mexico 500🇧🇷 Brazil 203🇨🇴 Colombia 84🇻🇪 Venezuela 60🇨🇺 Cuba 44🇵🇭 Philippines 40🇦🇷 Argentina 23🇬🇹 Guatemala 23
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Rita | Paraíba, 🇧🇷 Brazil | 149,910 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Maranhão, 🇧🇷 Brazil | 37,035 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Zulia, 🇻🇪 Venezuela | 31,810 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Yoro Department, 🇭🇳 Honduras | 21,536 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Maranhão, 🇧🇷 Brazil | 13,224 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Yoro Department, 🇭🇳 Honduras | 12,869 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Alto Paraná Department, 🇵🇾 Paraguay | 11,823 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Central Luzon, 🇵🇭 Philippines | 4,990 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Eastern Visayas, 🇵🇭 Philippines | 4,338 | Map |
| Santa Rita | Central Luzon, 🇵🇭 Philippines | 3,211 | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Rita
There are 34 lakes and reservoirs with Rita in their name, in 8 countries.
🇨🇦 Canada 19🇲🇽 Mexico 5🇻🇪 Venezuela 3🇧🇷 Brazil 2🇺🇸 United States 2🇧🇴 Bolivia 1🇨🇱 Chile 1🇬🇹 Guatemala 1
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Rita | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Rita songs
3 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Rita in their title. The best known:
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Rita
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Rita.
Rita Benson LeBlanc
Rita Blankenburg
Rita Coolidge
Rita Faltoyano
See more...
Fictional characters named Rita
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Rita as a pet name
FurryName has found 147 dogs named Rita in public pet registers, making it the #1,016 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Cambridge (5), Worcester (4), Nariño (municipality) (1). Rita as a dog name →
FurryName has found 10 cats named Rita in public pet registers, making it the #878 cat name there. Most of them are registered in Fusagasugá (1), Golden Plains Shire (1), Laval (1). Rita as a cat name →
Rita products
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