Myrna
Feminine · “beloved”
Myrna is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 31,700 girls against 42 boys since 1880.
Myrna is an Irish name that reached English through a phonetic respelling and then, very quickly, through Hollywood. Muirne is the mother of Fionn mac Cumhaill in Irish legend, which puts the name at the center of one of Ireland's great story cycles.
How old is the name Myrna?
Myrna first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Myrna alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 17,500 people named Myrna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Myrna most popular?
Myrna peaked in 1938, reaching #134 nationally. See the whole 1938 chart.
Where it comes from
From Muirne to Myrna
The story of Myrna
Muirne appears in the Fenian Cycle as the mother of Fionn, and Irish orthography being opaque to English readers, the name was respelled phonetically as Myrna in the nineteenth century. It was rare until an American film actress adopted it as a screen name in the 1920s and became one of the biggest stars of the following decade — the chart shows Myrna rising steeply through the early 1930s and peaking in 1934, in step with her career.
Meaningscholars disagree
beloved; high-spirited
From the Irish Muirne. Two readings compete: one connects it to a word meaning beloved or dear, the other to a sense of high spirits or festivity. Some accounts also connect the first element to muir, 'sea'. The legendary bearer is well documented; the word behind her name is not.
How the name formed
- Muirne
- Myrna
Related forms: Muirne · Morna · Mirna
Pronouncing Myrna
MUR-nuh
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Irish Muirne is closer to MUR-nyuh, with a softened n.
Nicknames for Myrna
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
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 19371,652 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #134reached in 1938
- Change vs 2021
- −27.3%8 in 2024, from 11
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.
Myrna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Muirne in Irish — same name
- Morna in Irish — spelling variant
- Mirna in English — spelling variant
Myrnas among us
people named Myrna 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
Myrna has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- A genuine Irish name with a place in one of the country's major legend cycles.
- The English spelling is entirely phonetic, which the Irish one is not.
- Two firm syllables that stand up well against a long surname.
- The meaning is genuinely contested between two quite different readings.
- The name is closely tied to the 1930s in American records.
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What they receive
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Myrna
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Myrnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 17,500 people named Myrna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Myrna in 2025?
- Myrna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Myrna with classmates?
- Myrna 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 Myrna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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