Myrta
Feminine · “myrtle”
Myrta is the plant name with a Latin ending instead of an English one, and that single change moves it out of the garden and into the register of classical names. It is the same shrub either way: an evergreen with white flowers that has been carried by brides for about three thousand years.
How old is the name Myrta?
Myrta was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Myrta alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. About 200 people named Myrta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Myrta most popular?
Myrta peaked in 1882, reaching #389 nationally. See the whole 1882 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Greek and Latin words for the shrub give the name its form to Myrta
The story of Myrta
The myrtle's place in modern weddings comes down to one bush on the Isle of Wight. A sprig was given to Queen Victoria in the eighteen-forties and planted in the garden at Osborne House, and when her eldest daughter married, a piece of it went into the bridal bouquet. Every royal bride since has carried myrtle cut from that same bush or its descendants — a continuous line of cuttings running through more than a century and a half of weddings, kept up by gardeners rather than by any rule. The custom then spread outward into ordinary British and American weddings for several generations. So a girl given this name in that period was given the flower that was in her mother's and grandmother's bouquets, which is a more specific inheritance than most flower names carry.
Meaning
myrtle
The Greek word for the shrub gave Latin myrtus, and from there the plant name traveled into every European language and into naming. The myrtle was associated with love and marriage in the ancient Mediterranean, which is why it appears in wedding ritual long before anyone thought of it as a girl's name. Nothing in the derivation is disputed. The choice between this form and the English one is a choice between the Latin word and the English word, not between two meanings.
How the name formed
- Greek and Latin words for the shrub give the name its form
- Myrtle is used in Mediterranean marriage ritual from antiquity
- A sprig is planted at Osborne House in the eighteen-forties
- Royal brides carry cuttings from it, and the custom spreads
- American records carry Myrtle in English and Myrta in Latin dress
Related forms: Myrtle · Mirta · Mirta · Myrto
Pronouncing Myrta
MUR-tuh
Two syllables with the stress on the first. The y is doing the job of an i, as it does in every English word taken from Greek, and the ending is a clear vowel rather than the dark l of the English plant name.
Nicknames for Myrta
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 192124 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #389reached in 1882
- Change vs 1981
- −28.6%5 in 1987, 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.
Myrta in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Myrtle in English — related form
- Mirta in Spanish — spelling variant
- Mirta in Italian — spelling variant
- Myrto in Greek — related form
Myrtas among us
people named Myrta 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
Myrta 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
- A real plant with a documented history in ritual, not an invented flower name
- The Latin ending gives it a classical shape shared with Alma, Nova and Lydia
- Short, spellable and unusual without being in any way difficult
- It will be heard as Myrtle and written that way by people taking it down from speech.
- The English form is strongly associated with a generation now largely gone, and this form borrows some of that.
- Mirta with an i is the commoner spelling in Spanish and Italian, which adds a second variant to correct.
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Myrta
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Myrtas 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 Myrta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Myrta in 2025?
- Myrta is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Myrta with classmates?
- Myrta 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 Myrta? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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