Myrl
Feminine
Myrl is given to both — 1,831 girls and 1,261 boys since 1880. See Myrl as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Myrl and Murl are two attempts at a vowel English has no letter for. The sound in fur, bird and heard is spelled at least five different ways in ordinary words, and a name carrying it has to pick one arbitrarily — which is why the same name appears with a y in one family and a u in another.
How old is the name Myrl?
Myrl first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Myrl alive today was born around 1920, making them about 105 years old. About 200 people named Myrl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Myrl most popular?
Myrl peaked in 1899, reaching #629 nationally. See the whole 1899 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Merle to Myrl
The story of Myrl
One candidate that is usually overlooked is a surname. Merrill is an English family name of respectable antiquity, it is said with exactly this vowel in its first syllable, and shortening a surname to one syllable is a completely ordinary thing for American naming to do. That route would make the name a clipped family name rather than a respelled common noun, which is a different kind of object entirely — and it would explain why the record holds it for both sexes, since surname-names are unisex far more often than word-names are.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Several sources are possible and none can be established. A French word for a blackbird, a shortening of a plant name and an English surname all produce this sound, and the spelling does not choose between them.
How the name formed
- Merle
- Myrl
- Murl
Pronouncing Myrl
MURL
One syllable with the r-colored vowel. The y and the u are two spellings of the same sound and neither has a better claim.
Nicknames for Myrl
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
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 191684 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #629reached in 1899
- Change vs 1953
- −44.4%5 in 1956, from 9
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.
Myrls among us
people named Myrl 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
Myrl 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
- One syllable, four letters, and instantly said.
- The y gives it a distinctiveness the u spelling does not have.
- It works across the sexes without straining for it.
- Merle and Murl are both in use and the spelling gets queried.
- No meaning can be given, because the source cannot be identified.
- It leans to girls, but a real share of children with this spelling are boys, so forms will sometimes guess wrong.
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Myrl
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Myrls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Myrl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Myrl in 2025?
- Myrl is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Myrl with classmates?
- Myrl 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 Myrl? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Myrl and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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