Rhett

About Rhett

Rhett is a surname name connected with Dutch raet, meaning “advice” or “counsel.” Its most familiar literary bearer is Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, while entertainer Rhett McLaughlin gives it a contemporary association. The name is pronounced RET, with one syllable and a silent h.

Meaning and form

Rhett developed from an English rendering of the Dutch surname de Raedt. The spelling preserves a distinctive initial Rh while keeping a very brief spoken form.

Margaret Mitchell used Rhett for a central character in her 1936 novel Gone with the Wind. That literary choice helped give the surname a particularly recognizable first-name identity. Rhetta is a feminine form, though Rhett itself is already concise enough to need little shortening.

Its final double t changes the appearance more than the sound. The written name is compact, but the unusual opening makes it stand apart from other short names ending in the same consonant.

Rhett Butler on page and screen

In Gone with the Wind, Rhett Butler becomes involved with Scarlett O'Hara against the background of the American Civil War and its aftermath. He recognizes her determination and capacity to pursue her own interests, qualities that draw them together while also contributing to conflict.

Scarlett's attachment to Ashley Wilkes complicates their relationship. Rhett becomes one of her husbands, but marriage does not resolve the competing loyalties and ambitions that run through the story.

Clark Gable played Rhett in the 1939 film, opposite Vivien Leigh as Scarlett. The performance made the character's name especially familiar to movie audiences. The association is therefore both literary and cinematic, with Mitchell's novel supplying the role and the screen adaptation giving it another enduring public form.

Rhett McLaughlin and online entertainment

Rhett McLaughlin is one half of Rhett and Link, the creative partnership behind Good Mythical Morning. He and Link Neal met in first grade, beginning a friendship that later became a professional collaboration.

Their show, launched in 2012, combines original games, unusual food tastings, experiments, and comic conversations. The recurring partnership makes the first name Rhett a familiar part of the programme's identity.

The pair also published Rhett & Link's Book of Mythicality in 2017. It mixes stories and photographs from their friendship with illustrated activities, charts, and games. That work gives Rhett a modern comic association very different from the dramatic world of Rhett Butler.

The book includes a character-building board game and mock merit badges for adults.

Popularity in the United States

Rhett was recorded for 264 American boys in 2000 and 411 in 2010. Its largest annual count and best ranking came in 2021, with 2,538 births at #149.

In 2025, 1,936 boys received the name, ranking #188. Nineteen girls were also recorded as Rhett. The recent figures show much broader American use than at the start of the century, alongside a smaller history of use for girls.

How popular is Rhett?

In 2025, Rhett ranked #188 among boys in the United States, with 1,936 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1917; its largest annual count was 2,538 in 2021. 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.