Rhea

About Rhea

Rhea is a Greek mythological name with an uncertain meaning. It is sometimes linked with a verb meaning “to flow,” and sometimes with a word for “ground.” Its best-established story is that of the Titan who was mother to several Olympian gods. The same name now belongs to a moon of Saturn.

Mythological roots

In Greek mythology, Rhea was the wife of Cronus and mother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. That family places her near the center of the transition between the Titans and the Olympian gods.

Roman legend also includes Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. She is a different figure from the Greek Titan. Sharing the first name does not make the two women the same mythological character.

Rhea among Saturn's moons

Astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered the moon Rhea on December 23, 1672. It is Saturn's second-largest moon, after Titan. Its name carries the ancient mythological figure into the vocabulary of astronomy.

Rhea is a cold, heavily cratered world whose surface is largely water ice. It keeps one side facing Saturn as it travels around the planet, completing an orbit in about four and a half Earth days. Its reflected light and icy surface connect it physically with other Saturnian moons such as Dione and Tethys. Its average radius is about 764 kilometers, less than a third of Titan’s. The extreme cold means its water ice behaves like rock rather than like the soft ice familiar on Earth.

The astronomical association gives the name a recognizable setting beyond mythology. Rhea can therefore evoke both an ancient divine family and a specific object observed and studied in the modern Solar System.

Rhea Perlman

Actress Rhea Perlman is particularly associated with Carla Tortelli, the outspoken waitress in Cheers. The sitcom ran from 1982 to 1993, and her role became one of its familiar comic presences.

Perlman won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Cheers, in 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1989. The awards recognize several years of performance rather than one isolated appearance. Her name gives Rhea a substantial television connection alongside its classical and astronomical ones.

Pronunciation and American use

English Rhea has two established pronunciations: REE-uh and RAY-uh. Both have two syllables and stress at the beginning. Rheia is an alternative spelling associated with the Greek mythological name.

Rhea was recorded for 172 American girls in 2000 and 208 in 2010. It reached its largest recorded birth count in 2023, with 577 girls and a rank of No. 527.

In 2025, 452 girls received the name, placing it at No. 639. Its recent figures show a name with renewed twenty-first-century visibility, while remaining outside the most frequently used American names.

How popular is Rhea?

In 2025, Rhea ranked #639 among girls in the United States, with 452 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1882; its largest annual count was 577 in 2023. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.