Myria vs Myrtle
American parents have registered 136,984 Myrtles since 1880, against 535 Myrias. Myrtle is still ahead, with 8 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Myria 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 138 years in which either name was published, Myrtle for 114 years and Myria for 24 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.
Side by side
| Myria | Myrtle | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 535 | 136,984 |
| Most in one year | 21 | 4,094 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 8 |
| Estimated living today | 490 | 12,000 |
| Median age today | 41 | 81 |
| Peak year | 1991 | 1918 |
| Best rank | 4,650th girls | 62nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 10,917th |
| First recorded | 1930 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 535 / 0 | 136,486 / 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 Myrias are over 41. That is 40 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Myria and Myrtle.