Myrtis
Feminine · “myrtle”
Myrtis is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 6,121 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Myrtis was a Greek poet, and one of the very few whose existence is recorded even though almost none of her work survives. She is said to have taught Pindar and to have competed against him. The name is also the myrtle, a shrub sacred to Aphrodite, and the -is ending gave American naming a classical look around nineteen hundred.
How old is the name Myrtis?
Myrtis first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Myrtis alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 1,500 people named Myrtis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Myrtis most popular?
Myrtis peaked in 1912, reaching #464 nationally. See the whole 1912 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From myrtos to Myrtis
The story of Myrtis
Myrtis of Anthedon is one of the nine women that later Greek scholarship listed as lyric poets, and what survives of her is a summary of one poem and a remark from another poet that she was wrong to compete with Pindar. That is a thin record and it is more than most women of the period get. The name reached American use through the classical fashion of the late nineteenth century rather than through any knowledge of her, arriving alongside Doris, Ardis and Iris, and it faded with them.
Meaning
myrtle
Greek myrtos names the myrtle, an evergreen shrub with fragrant white flowers that was sacred to Aphrodite and used in wedding wreaths across the Greek and Roman world. Myrtis is a Greek personal name built on it. The derivation is not disputed. English Myrtle comes from the same plant by a longer route through Latin and French, so the two names are relatives that arrived by different roads.
How the name formed
- myrtos
- Myrtis
Related forms: Μυρτίς · Myrtle
Pronouncing Myrtis
MUR-tiss
MUR-tiss, two syllables, stress at the front, the y sounded as the vowel in fur. Greek would have said something closer to myr-TEES with the weight at the back; the English reading has been stable since the name arrived.
Nicknames for Myrtis
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
- 1882
- Most girls named
- 1924176 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #464reached in 1912
- Change vs 1982
- −50.0%5 in 1987, from 10
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.
Myrtis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Μυρτίς in Greek — transliteration
- Myrtle in English — related form
Myrtiss among us
people named Myrtis 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
Myrtis 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
- There is a real Greek poet behind it, which very few names of its period can claim.
- The plant is concrete, fragrant and has a documented ritual history.
- Two syllables, said correctly on first sight, with nothing silent.
- Myrtle is far better known and this name will be heard as a version of it.
- The name belongs firmly to an earlier American century and has not returned.
- The first syllable lands on the sound in murder for some listeners, which is worth knowing.
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What they receive
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Myrtis
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Myrtiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Myrtis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Myrtis in 2025?
- Myrtis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Myrtis with classmates?
- Myrtis 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
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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