Girl · Greek, through German
Gretchen
Say it: GRET-khen
Meaning
German diminutive of Margarete, from Greek margarites 'pearl'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Goethe's Gretchen in Faust made it the archetypal German girls' name, and it had real use in the United States in the 20th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1970s
In the United States
- 53,588 babies given this name since 1882
- At its height in 1973, about 1 in 1,100 girls
- 65 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
| English | Gretchen |
|---|
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Well-known works of literature
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.