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Meaning of the nameRita

Rita is a feminine name of Italian origin, a short form of Margherita, a name that goes back to Greek margarítes, 'pearl'.

Meaning

“short form of Margherita, a name that comes from Greek margarítes, 'pearl'”

Source: Behind the Name: Margaret

People (2022)
309,366
Rank in Brazil
#91
Median age
54 years
2010 Census
355,552
people

Rita in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Rita, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1960s (88,870 people).

308,189 women 1,177 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Rita is most common

States with the highest share of people named Rita in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Rio Grande do Norte 0.353%
  2. Ceará 0.299%
  3. Paraíba 0.282%
  4. Bahia 0.226%
  5. Piauí 0.201%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo64,7880.146%
Minas Gerais32,0500.156%
Bahia31,9980.226%
Rio de Janeiro27,8800.174%
Ceará26,2710.299%
Pernambuco12,9890.143%
Rio Grande do Sul11,7760.108%
Rio Grande do Norte11,6720.353%
Paraíba11,1890.282%
Maranhão10,0360.148%
Paraná9,5480.083%
Pará8,7930.108%
Santa Catarina7,7480.102%
Piauí6,5600.201%
Goiás6,2940.089%
Espírito Santo5,8070.152%
Alagoas4,3090.138%
Distrito Federal3,8800.138%
Amazonas3,2440.082%
Sergipe2,8040.127%
Mato Grosso2,7890.076%
Mato Grosso do Sul2,3010.084%
Tocantins1,7420.115%
Rondônia1,2590.080%
Amapá5870.080%
Acre5370.065%
Roraima5150.081%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Rita

Wiktionary explains Rita as a shortening of Italian Margherita and Spanish Margarita, names related to Margaret; Behind the Name gives it as a short form of Margherita and of other names ending in -rita. According to Behind the Name, Margarita comes from Latin and, before that, from Greek margarítes, 'pearl', a word probably taken from an Indo-Iranian language; this is the meaning of the base name. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 309,366 people named Rita, with a median age of 54; proportionally, the name is most common in Rio Grande do Norte.

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: Rita · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  2. Behind the Name: Rita · behindthename.com · origin
  3. Behind the Name: Margaret · behindthename.com · meaning
  4. Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Rita · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Rita

What does the name Rita mean?

Rita means “short form of Margherita, a name that comes from Greek margarítes, 'pearl'”, according to Behind the Name.

How many people are named Rita in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 309,366 people with the first name Rita, which ranks it number 91 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1960s.

Is Rita a boy's or a girl's name?

Rita is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 308,189 women and 1,177 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Rita?

Rita is a name of Italian, Latin and Greek origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Rita most common?

Proportionally, in Rio Grande do Norte: 0.353% of the state's population is named Rita (11,672 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of Italian origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Rita with a source. See the methodology.