Peta

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Peta: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Peta: Recorded since 1970, with a gap of 12 years, it reached #59 in 1978, and it was last ranked in 2017.

2registrars recorded it
27times a registrar ranked it
48years from first to last
#59highest recorded position
6groupings it qualifies for

What stands out in Peta's record

Absent from every published list for 12 years inside its own recorded period, then ranked again. Names by longest absence

Region

Falling

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2017

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#2683
1998	#3848
2000	#2416
2001	#2466
2002	#4137
2004	#4598
2005	#3382
2006	#4157
2007	#5201
2011	#5785
2012	#4838
2014	#3514
2015	#5730
2017	#5765

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

FallingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in England and Wales in 14 of the 22 years from 1996 to 2017.

Official data from 2 national registrars across 2 regions, 1970–2017 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1970
First recorded at #85 among girls in New South Wales, Australia in 1970 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
New South Wales, Australia · Girls
Highest recorded1970–1983
Highest recorded position: #59 among girls in New South Wales, Australia, in 1978 (recorded 1970–1983).
New South Wales, Australia · Girls
Most recent2017
Most recently recorded at #5765 among girls in England and Wales, in 2017.
England and Wales · Girls

Peta appears in 2 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, with 14 ranked years and 57 births registered; the earliest is New South Wales, Australia · Girls, from 1970.

Peta across 2 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Peta's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Girls	#2683 (1996)	#2416 (2000)	#5765 (2017)	14 of 22	57 (1996–2017)	6 (2000)
New South Wales, Australia · Girls	#85 (1970)	#59 (1978)	#97 (1983)	13 of 14	1,311 (1970–1983)	133 (1978)

Peta by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Peta in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	8	2 of 10	4
2000sbusiest	30	7 of 10	4
2010s	19	5 of 10	4

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2000s were its busiest decade — the 7 years of it this list covers, averaging 4 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Peta appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 2 regions, from 1970 to 2017. Highest recorded position: #59 in New South Wales, Australia in 1978.

Peta's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2017	England and Wales	female	#5765	3	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	female	#5730	3	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#3514	6	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#4838	4	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#5785	3	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#5201	3	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#4157	4	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#3382	5	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#4598	3	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#4137	3	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#2466	6	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#2416	6	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	female	#3848	3	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	female	#2683	5	High	Verified
1983	New South Wales, Australia	female	#97	79	Insufficient	Not yet available
1982	New South Wales, Australia	female	#94	85	Insufficient	Not yet available
1980	New South Wales, Australia	female	#87	86	Insufficient	Not yet available
1979	New South Wales, Australia	female	#97	77	Insufficient	Not yet available
1978	New South Wales, Australia	female	#59	133	Insufficient	Not yet available
1977	New South Wales, Australia	female	#75	103	Insufficient	Not yet available
1976	New South Wales, Australia	female	#68	104	Insufficient	Not yet available
1975	New South Wales, Australia	female	#64	115	Insufficient	Not yet available
1974	New South Wales, Australia	female	#74	112	Insufficient	Not yet available
1973	New South Wales, Australia	female	#87	92	Insufficient	Not yet available
1972	New South Wales, Australia	female	#90	106	Insufficient	Not yet available
1971	New South Wales, Australia	female	#83	113	Insufficient	Not yet available
1970	New South Wales, Australia	female	#85	106	Insufficient	Not yet available

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
New South Wales, Australia hub — collected by NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 2 registrars between 1970 and 2017, ranked in 27 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #59, first reached in 1978.

It held a top-100 place in 13 years, 11 of them consecutive.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 133 births, registered in New South Wales, Australia in 1978.

Its record falls into 9 separate stretches, with a longest absence of 12 years.

A second registrar first ranked it in 1996, and 26 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Perseus · #1692, 12y
Pessy · #3397, 10y
Petal · #2215, 18y
Petar · #741, 24y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 2 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Ruairidh · #56, 24y
Mio · #64, 22y
Alyce · #65, 23y
Brock · #69, 27y

Also first recorded in the 1970s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1970 and 1979.

Bevan · #59, 33y
Iselin · #60, 51y
Regan · #58, 41y
Casey · #61, 47y

Peta was ranked #59 in New South Wales, Australia · Girls in 1978. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Peta and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Peta without appearing here.

Peta moved ahead of

Debra Compare
In 2013 they stood at #4157 and #4157 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2014 that had become #3514 and #4684.
Geraldine Compare
In 2013 they stood at #4838 and #3285 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2014 that had become #3514 and #4684.
Kristy Compare
In 2013 they stood at #4838 and #3285 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2014 that had become #3514 and #4684.
Ellinor Compare
In 2011 they stood at #5785 and #3185 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #4838 and #5876.

Moved ahead of Peta

Hayden Compare
In 2006 they stood at #3382 and #3970 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2007 that had become #5201 and #1741.
Liv Compare
In 2001 they stood at #2416 and #3912 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2002 that had become #4137 and #2105.
Ida Compare
In 1997 they stood at #2683 and #3126 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1998 that had become #3848 and #2165.
Logan Compare
In 1997 they stood at #2683 and #3126 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1998 that had become #3848 and #2407.

Moved the opposite way to Peta

Ada Compare
Between 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales · Girls, Peta went from #2683 to #5765 while Ada went from #2683 to #114.
Alma Compare
Between 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales · Girls, Peta went from #2683 to #5765 while Alma went from #2096 to #413.
Alyssa Compare
Between 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales · Girls, Peta went from #2683 to #5765 while Alyssa went from #783 to #242.
Amalie Compare
Between 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales · Girls, Peta went from #2683 to #5765 while Amalie went from #2096 to #740.

Moved the same way as Peta

Abigail Compare
Between 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales · Girls, Peta went from #2683 to #5765 and Abigail from #21 to #73.
Aimee Compare
Between 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales · Girls, Peta went from #2683 to #5765 and Aimee from #70 to #448.
Aisling Compare
Between 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales · Girls, Peta went from #2683 to #5765 and Aisling from #440 to #1681.
Alex Compare
Between 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales · Girls, Peta went from #2683 to #5765 and Alex from #161 to #1411.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 2 regions, from 1970 to 2017. Highest recorded position: #59 in New South Wales, Australia in 1978. Source data last verified 2026-07-25.

Peta

Peta at a glance

What stands out in Peta's record

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Peta across 2 official records

Peta by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Peta appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1970s

Names published alongside Peta

Peta and the names beside it

Peta moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Peta

Moved the opposite way to Peta

Moved the same way as Peta

Peta at a glance

What stands out in Peta's record

Peta across 2 official records

Peta by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Peta appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1970s

Names published alongside Peta

Peta and the names beside it

Peta moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Peta

Moved the opposite way to Peta

Moved the same way as Peta