Head to head · Girls' names
Mabel vs Myla
#201 vs #210 in 2025
Mabel is a whisker ahead (#201 vs #210 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Mabel is back after a long quiet spell, Myla is climbing the charts fast.
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, Mabel leads 6 measures of 6; Myla leads 0.
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: Mabel #20, Myla — — Mabel higher
- 1890s: Mabel #20, Myla — — Mabel higher
- 1900s: Mabel #30, Myla — — Mabel higher
- 1910s: Mabel #60, Myla #3346 — Mabel higher
- 1920s: Mabel #114, Myla #3599 — Mabel higher
- 1930s: Mabel #206, Myla #2836 — Mabel higher
- 1940s: Mabel #373, Myla #2864 — Mabel higher
- 1950s: Mabel #699, Myla #2547 — Mabel higher
- 1960s: Mabel #1070, Myla #2700 — Mabel higher
- 1970s: Mabel #1501, Myla #3014 — Mabel higher
- 1980s: Mabel #1575, Myla #3961 — Mabel higher
- 1990s: Mabel #2076, Myla #3328 — Mabel higher
- 2000s: Mabel #1850, Myla #1063 — Myla higher
- 2010s: Mabel #740, Myla #371 — Myla higher
- 2020s: Mabel #302, Myla #212 — Myla higher
Mabel stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Myla has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Mabel | Myla |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #20 | — |
| 1890s | #20 | — |
| 1900s | #30 | — |
| 1910s | #60 | #3346 |
| 1920s | #114 | #3599 |
| 1930s | #206 | #2836 |
| 1940s | #373 | #2864 |
| 1950s | #699 | #2547 |
| 1960s | #1070 | #2700 |
| 1970s | #1501 | #3014 |
| 1980s | #1575 | #3961 |
| 1990s | #2076 | #3328 |
| 2000s | #1850 | #1063 |
| 2010s | #740 | #371 |
| 2020s | #302 | #212 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Mabel
- England & Wales#37
- Scotland#58
Myla
- Scotland#74
- England & Wales#89
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Mabel
Lovable
From the Latin amabilis, "lovable," by way of the medieval name Amabel.
Amabilis → Amabel → Mabel → Maybelle
How it traveled
Amabilis was a Latin adjective before it was a name, and it became one in the early Christian centuries; medieval France and England turned it into Amabel, then wore the front off it to make Mabel. It was common in England from the twelfth century onward, then faded almost entirely, surviving mainly as the surnames Mabbs and Mapes.
Myla
Most often read as "dear, gracious" through the Slavic name Mila
Two serious readings compete. Read as an English respelling of Mila, it goes back to the Slavic root mil-, "dear, gracious" — the element behind Milena and Miloslava. Read as a feminine form of Myles or Miles, its meaning is itself unsettled, argued between Latin miles, "soldier," and older Germanic material. A third possibility is simpler: that the spelling was formed in English on the pattern of Layla and Kayla, in which case it carries no inherited meaning at all.
Mila → Myla
How it traveled
The spelling Myla belongs to English, where y has long been swapped in for i to give a familiar name a different face — the same move that turned Lily into Lyly and Aisha into Ayisha. Behind it stands Mila, a short form used across the Slavic languages from names built on mil-, "dear," and carried west by twentieth-century emigration.
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
Mabel
MAY-bull
Stress on the first syllable. In medieval England the first vowel was short, closer to MAB-ul, which is where the surnames Mabbs and Mapes come from; the modern long-A pronunciation is universal now.
- Mae — The most common short form, and a standalone given name in its own right.
- Mabs — Informal, family-and-friends shortening with a long history in British use.
- Belle — Drawn from the tail of the name; also stands alone as a given name.
- Mab — A clipped form used informally; also the name of Shakespeare's fairy queen in Romeo and Juliet.
Myla
MY-luh
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the long i of "my". The main confusion is with Mila, which most American speakers say MEE-lah — close on paper, different in the mouth.
- My — The obvious household clip, informal only; rarely written down.
- Mylie — Affectionate lengthening used at home; overlaps in sound with Miley and Mylie, both of which stand alone as given names.
- Mimi — A general-purpose pet name attached to many M- names; informal, family use.
Who has carried each name
Mabel
Mabel Normand (b. 1892) — Silent-comedy pioneer who directed Charlie Chaplin
Myla
No documented entry for Myla yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Mabel if you want…
- a name on the way upup 227 places on the charts in five years
- a long American recordMabel was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 30% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 51% for Myla
Choose Myla if you want…
- a newer arrivalMyla entered the US charts in 1913
- a name that feels very nowMyla is climbing the charts fast
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
Mabel
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds, and short enough to write early — five letters, two syllables, no silent anything.
- Established short forms already in use: Mae, Mabs, Belle.
- A documented record in English going back to the twelfth century, with a Victorian revival on both sides of the Atlantic.
To consider
- Most living Americans named Mabel are of the oldest generations, so some people will hear it as a name from their grandparents' era rather than a current one. That gap is closing, but it is real right now.
- Mabelle, Maybelle and Mabelle-with-an-e all exist, so expect the occasional need to spell it out — a small correction, not a lifelong battle.
- It is on the way up, which cuts both ways: unusual today, but likely more common by the time a child born now reaches school.
Myla
Strengths
- Two syllables, four letters, and no silent parts — easy for a small child to say and to write early.
- Charts in Scotland and in England and Wales as well as the US, so it reads as a name rather than a puzzle across the English-speaking world.
- Sits in a sound family already familiar to most ears — Layla, Kayla, Mila — which makes it recognizable without being everywhere.
To consider
- Myla and Mila will be mixed up for life, in spelling and in speech. Expect to spell it out often and to correct MEE-lah to MY-luh. The variant Mylah adds a third spelling to the pile.
- This is a name on a fast rise. A child named Myla may well be the only one in her class now and share it with two others by high school — worth knowing if rarity is part of the appeal.
- The wave is very new, so nearly everyone carrying this name is a child. There is no long line of adult Mylas yet to show what it sounds like on a grown woman — that record is being written now.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Mabel
30%chance Mabel feels dated by 2040
Mabel is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
Myla
51%chance Myla feels dated by 2040
Myla is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Mabel and Myla in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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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
- Vintage names making a comeback
- Grandmother-chic: 1920s names ready to return
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- Five-letter names, the comfortable middle
- all guides
Where Mabel and Myla each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Mabel or Myla — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Mabel or Myla?
- Mabel, in 2025: Mabel ranked #201 with 1,522 babies; Myla ranked #210 with 1,436 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Mabel or Myla?
- Mabel. Over the last five years Mabel moved up 227 places; Myla moved up 66 places.
- Which is the older name, Mabel or Myla?
- Mabel was already in use when US records began in 1880; Myla entered the US charts in 1913. On the American record, Mabel is the older name.
- How many people are named Mabel and Myla?
- About 22,500 people named Mabel are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 21,500 people named Myla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Mabels or Mylas in the classroom?
- Mabel will almost certainly be the only one in school. Myla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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