Humanverse

Myracle vs Myrtle

American parents have registered 136,984 Myrtles since 1880, against 1,358 Myracles. But in 2025 it was Myracle that was commoner, 35 babies to 8.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Myracle against Myrtle, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Myracle Myrtle

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Myrtle for 116 years and Myracle for 30 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Myracle Myrtle
Total US births 1,358136,984
Most in one year 684,094
Babies in 2025 358
Estimated living today 1,30012,000
Median age today 1381
Peak year 20191918
Best rank 2,561st girls62nd girls
Rank in 2025 4,067th10,917th
First recorded 19911880
Girls / boys 1,358 / 0136,486 / 498

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Myrtles alive today are over 81; half the Myracles are over 13. That is 68 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Myracle and Myrtle.