How to say it
RHETT
/rɛt/
Masculine
Rhett
Ardent, fiery
What it means
Anglicized form of Welsh Rhys ('ardent'), via the Dutch Reth or the German Rhett. Gone with the Wind's Rhett Butler (Clark Gable's 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn') is the indelible Anglo-American anchor.
Rhett comes either from the Welsh Rhys (anglicized) or from a Dutch-German surname Rhett (from a Germanic root). The surname was common in the American South — Robert Barnwell Rhett (1800-1876) was a South Carolina politician and fire-eating secessionist. Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1936) features Rhett Butler as Scarlett O'Hara's husband; Clark Gable's portrayal in the 1939 film ('Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn') gave the name its inescapable English-language anchor. As a first name Rhett is mostly American-Southern; it surged after 2010 with the broader vintage revival. It entered the US top 200 in 2019. Single syllable, no shorter form.
Popularity over time
peaked at #149 in 2021, currently #188 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Pop culture
Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind, 1939) is the inescapable American anchor; some families lean into the Civil War-era Southern coding, others use it without thinking about it.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Rhett Butler Clark Gable's character in Gone with the Wind (1939)
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