Head to head · Girls' names
Isabela vs Myra
#664 vs #662 in 2025
Myra is a whisker ahead (#662 vs #664 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Myra is stepping back from its peak, Isabela is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Isabela has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Myra leads 5 measures of 6; Isabela leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Isabela —, Myra #190 — Myra higher
- 1890s: Isabela —, Myra #236 — Myra higher
- 1900s: Isabela —, Myra #283 — Myra higher
- 1910s: Isabela —, Myra #292 — Myra higher
- 1920s: Isabela —, Myra #295 — Myra higher
- 1930s: Isabela —, Myra #260 — Myra higher
- 1940s: Isabela —, Myra #230 — Myra higher
- 1950s: Isabela —, Myra #259 — Myra higher
- 1960s: Isabela —, Myra #356 — Myra higher
- 1970s: Isabela —, Myra #497 — Myra higher
- 1980s: Isabela #8255, Myra #600 — Myra higher
- 1990s: Isabela #2286, Myra #833 — Myra higher
- 2000s: Isabela #568, Myra #989 — Isabela higher
- 2010s: Isabela #723, Myra #672 — Myra higher
- 2020s: Isabela #704, Myra #601 — Myra higher
Myra stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Myra has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Isabela | Myra |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #190 |
| 1890s | — | #236 |
| 1900s | — | #283 |
| 1910s | — | #292 |
| 1920s | — | #295 |
| 1930s | — | #260 |
| 1940s | — | #230 |
| 1950s | — | #259 |
| 1960s | — | #356 |
| 1970s | — | #497 |
| 1980s | #8255 | #600 |
| 1990s | #2286 | #833 |
| 2000s | #568 | #989 |
| 2010s | #723 | #672 |
| 2020s | #704 | #601 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Isabela
my God is an oath — via Elizabeth
Isabel began as a medieval Spanish and Occitan reworking of Elisabeth, from the Hebrew Elisheva. The two names circulated side by side for centuries and were often treated as one; Isabela adds the Portuguese and Romanian feminine ending.
Elisheva → Elisabet → Elisabeth → Isabel → Isabela
How it traveled
The Hebrew name Elisheva reached Greek as Elisabet, and Latin Christendom as Elisabeth. In medieval Spain and southern France, speakers trimmed the front and softened the rest, and Isabel emerged as a name in its own right — carried by queens of Castile, Aragon and Portugal through the late Middle Ages.
Myra
Either a rearrangement of Mary, or from Greek myron, 'myrrh, sweet oil'
Two serious readings compete, and neither has won. The first treats Myra as Fulke Greville's poetic anagram of Mary — Elizabethan poets built names that way. The second connects it to Greek myron, 'myrrh' or 'perfumed oil', the same root behind the older name Myron. A third line simply points to Myra, the coastal city in what is now Turkey, whose bishop was Saint Nicholas.
How it traveled
The name was coined, not inherited: it appears as the beloved's name in Caelica, the sonnet sequence by Fulke Greville, first Baron Brooke, written in the late sixteenth century and printed after his death. Later English poets kept it in circulation as a literary name for a woman, and by the nineteenth century it had passed fully into ordinary use in Britain, Ireland and the United States.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Isabela
iz-uh-BEL-uh
Stress on the third syllable in English. Portuguese and Spanish speakers say it ee-zah-BEH-lah, with a clearer first vowel; both are correct for the same name.
- Bella — The most widely used short form in English; also given as a full name on its own.
- Isa — Common in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking families, informal, used at home and among friends.
- Bela — Follows the single-l spelling of the full name; standard in Brazilian usage.
- Izzy — Informal English short form, shared with Isabelle, Isadora and Israel.
- Also Belle.
Myra
MY-ruh
Stress on the first syllable, rhyming with 'fire'. Some families, especially where the name sits alongside Mira and Meera, say MEE-ruh instead — worth deciding early which one you mean, as both will be offered to you.
- My — An affectionate family shortening rather than a public one; most bearers use the full name in every setting, since it is already short.
- Mimi — Used informally in some families, and also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Isabela if you want…
- a name on the way upup 171 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itIsabela runs 4 syllables, Myra 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Bella, Isa and Bela
- a newer arrivalIsabela entered the US charts in 1982
Choose Myra if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMyra is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesMyra is 2 syllables to Isabela's 4
- a long American recordMyra was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Isabela
Strengths
- Works unchanged in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian — one spelling that a great many people can already read.
- A documented line back through medieval Iberia to the Hebrew Elisheva, unbroken for well over a thousand years.
- Several established short forms — Bella, Isa, Bela, Izzy — so there is room for a formal and an informal version.
To consider
- The double-l Isabella is far more common in the United States, so Isabela will be autocorrected and rewritten with two l's fairly often. Most people with the name learn a quick, cheerful spelling-out early.
- Bella as a nickname is shared with Isabella, Annabella, Arabella and Bella itself, so it identifies a child less clearly than the full name does.
- English and Portuguese pronunciations differ in the first vowel. Both are legitimate, but a family that uses one may hear the other daily from teachers and neighbors.
Myra
Strengths
- Spelled as it sounds, and short enough that it never needs shortening — no formal-versus-everyday version to manage.
- In continuous English use since the Elizabethan era, so it is familiar rather than novel, even to people who have met few Myras.
- Recognizable across several languages through its close neighbors Mira, Meera and Mayra.
To consider
- Most Myras in the United States today belong to older generations, so the name currently reads as a grandmother's rather than a classmate's — that is exactly the position names occupy shortly before they come back, but it is where it sits now.
- Mira, Meera, Mayra and Myrna are all in use, and Myra will be misheard as one of them often enough that you will spell it aloud.
- In Britain the name was badly damaged by a notorious 1960s murder case and fell sharply out of favor there. In American ears the association is faint to absent, but it is worth knowing if you have family or ties in the UK.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Isabela and Myra in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Isabela and Myra?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names far more common than their rank admits
- Latin American and Caribbean names
- Disney names on real birth certificates
- all guides
Where Isabela and Myra each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Isabela or Myra — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Isabela or Myra?
- Myra, in 2025: Myra ranked #662 with 429 babies; Isabela ranked #664 with 426 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Isabela or Myra?
- Isabela. Over the last five years Isabela moved up 171 places; Myra moved down 106 places.
- Which is the older name, Isabela or Myra?
- Isabela entered the US charts in 1982; Myra was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Myra is the older name.
- How many people are named Isabela and Myra?
- About 12,500 people named Isabela are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 41,500 people named Myra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Isabelas or Myras in the classroom?
- Isabela will almost certainly be the only one in school. Myra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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