Myrle
Feminine · “blackbird”
Myrle is given to both — 2,405 girls and 703 boys since 1880. See Myrle as a boy nameSee other names given to both
The y in Myrle is doing what the e does in Merle. Both are ways of writing a vowel English has no clean letter for — the sound in fur and her and bird — and this name has been written with every one of them.
How old is the name Myrle?
Myrle first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Myrle alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. About 300 people named Myrle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Myrle most popular?
Myrle peaked in 1897, reaching #627 nationally. See the whole 1897 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From merle to Myrle
The story of Myrle
English writes this vowel five ways — er, ir, ur, yr and ear — and there is no rule about which. Fur, fir, her, myrrh and earth all have the same vowel and five different spellings, which is a genuine failure of the writing system rather than a quirk. A name using that vowel is therefore going to be spelled several ways by different families, and this one has been: Merle, Myrle, Murl, Merl and Myrl are all in the American record, along with Myrtle, which is a different name that ended up in the same pile.
Meaningscholars disagree
blackbird
If the name descends from the French merle, it names the bird. If it comes from Myrtle instead, it names a shrub. The two are unrelated and the spellings have blurred.
How the name formed
- merle
- Myrle
Pronouncing Myrle
MURL
One syllable, rhyming with pearl. Every spelling in this family is said identically.
Nicknames for Myrle
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
- 1884
- Most girls named
- 191598 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #627reached in 1897
- Change vs 1959
- 0.0%7 in 1962, from 7
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.
Myrles among us
people named Myrle 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
Myrle 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 and five letters, with no possible mispronunciation.
- It works well in front of long surnames, where fuller names get crowded.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the earliest years of the count.
- Merle is the commoner spelling and will be written instead.
- Myrtle is a different name that this spelling is constantly confused with.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well as girls in the United States.
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What they receive
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Myrle
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Myrles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Myrle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Myrle in 2025?
- Myrle is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Myrle with classmates?
- Myrle 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 Myrle? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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