Metta

Girls' name

Variant of Mette

Metta has been given to 1,123 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1924, with 25 recorded.

Babies named Metta, 2021

1 in 424,000

Metta over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Metta: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Mette

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Metta means

Metta is a variant of Mette.

Origin, language, and formation

Metta is used in Faroese, Icelandic and Norwegian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Mette.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,123 girls were recorded with the name Metta between 1880 and 2021. Its highest annual count was 25 in 1924; its best national rank was #445 in 1880.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Metta?

Metta had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2021, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2021: 1 in 424,000; 8 of 3,389,958 births
Among girls only: 1 in 205,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2021: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 293,719 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Metta sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2021 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 293,719 children born in 2021 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Metta. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Mettas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Metta was born before 1920 — so the typical Metta is around 105 today.

Median birth year: 1920; About 105 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 15.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 8.5%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 224; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 15.1% of all recorded uses (170).

Is Metta rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1924 (25)
Years since peak: 101; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 39.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #445; 1880

Spellings of Metta

Metta is not the most common spelling — Betty is, with 73.6% against Metta's 0.08%.

Betty73.6%1,001,238
Etta3.2%43,268
Bette2.6%34,897
Melba2.6%34,873
Letha1.4%19,137
Marta1.3%17,535
Petra1.1%14,559
Melva1.0%14,155

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Metta is used

Across 1910–2025, Metta was most concentrated in North Carolina — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 388,078 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1North Carolina1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Metta has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Metta by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #445; 1880
Peak year: 1924; 25 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 2021
All-time count: 1,123
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Metta

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Netta Letta Metzli Zetta Jetta Aletta Mettie Metztli Retta Yitta Rhetta Lovetta Louetta Joetta Oletta Britta Aretta Metha Renatta Laretta Deetta Gretta Lotta Arietta

Sibling names for Metta

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Rosina Kattie Lavon Blanch Jaunita Vernell Dorris Leonora

For a brother

Alvis Eldridge Lacy Delmer Wilton Elwin Domenick Hosea

Explore around Metta

Top names of 1924, Metta's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1880 Girls' names starting with M