Rita

Where Rita comes from

From Romance (Italian Rita, Spanish Rita). A shortening of Italian Margherita, and Spanish Margarita, cognates of English Margaret. An Italian Saint Rita was canonized in 1900. The English name came into regular use in early twentieth century.
— Wiktionary's entry for Rita
  • Romance
  • Sanskrit
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #375 among girls — 19 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1909
    Rita Levi-Montalcini born
    Italian neurologist
  3. 1930
    Peak, #42
    5,470 babies named Rita — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1966
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #135.
  5. 1990
    Rita Ora born
    English-Albanian singer and actress
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from the Romance languages, Italian, or Spanish.
  • A female given name from Sanskrit.
Namesakes
  • Rita Levi-Montalcini · Italian neurologist, 1909–2012
  • Rita Ora · English-Albanian singer and actress, born 1990
  • Rita Wilson · American actress, singer and producer, born 1956
  • Rita Lee · Brazilian singer, songwriter, author, actress and television host, 1947–2023
  • Rita Mae Brown · novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist, born 1944

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.