Mirta
Feminine · “The myrtle”
Mirta is the myrtle, in the Spanish and Italian spelling, and the plant it names is one of the four species carried in the hand at a Jewish festival every autumn.
How old is the name Mirta?
Mirta first appears in US birth records in 1931 — 94 years ago. The typical Mirta alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 800 people named Mirta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mirta most popular?
Mirta peaked in 1956, reaching #2103 nationally. See the whole 1956 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Myrtos to Mirta
The story of Mirta
At Sukkot, four plants are held together and waved: a palm frond, a citron, willow branches and myrtle. The myrtle has to be a particular kind, with leaves growing in threes from the same point on the stem, and buying a good set is a serious business involving close inspection of individual twigs. The plant has an older life too: it was sacred to the goddess of love in the Mediterranean world and grew all over the hills there, which is why it turns up in poetry constantly. A name meaning myrtle is naming something specific and local — a dark-leaved, white-flowered shrub that smells strongly when crushed and that half the literature of Europe assumes you can see from your window.
Meaning
The myrtle
The Greek and Latin word for the shrub, which reached Spanish and Italian with the i that Greek wrote as an upsilon. English writes the same word with a y, which is why the English form of the name looks so different.
How the name formed
- Myrtos
- Mirta
Related forms: Mirta · Mirta · Myrtle
Pronouncing Mirta
MEER-tah
Two syllables, stress at the front. Spanish and Italian both give the final vowel its full value.
Nicknames for Mirta
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1931
- Most girls named
- 196129 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2103reached in 1956
- Change vs 2005
- 0.0%5 in 2009, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mirta in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mirta in Spanish — same name
- Mirta in Italian — same name
- Myrtle in English — related form
Mirtas among us
people named Mirta are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Mirta sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete and the plant is real and specific.
- It is short, clear and easy for an English speaker.
- It is understood immediately across southern Europe and Latin America.
- Americans will hear Myrtle, which has a very different flavor in English.
- Marta and Mirtha are both nearby and hers will be written as one of them.
- The name is closely tied to one immigrant generation in the American record.
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Mirta
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Mirtas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Mirta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mirta in 2025?
- Mirta is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Mirta with classmates?
- Mirta will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mirta? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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