Miranda

Meaning and origin

Miranda means “admirable” or “worthy of admiration.” It comes from the Latin word mirandus and entered English naming through William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Shakespeare created the name for the play’s heroine, giving it a literary beginning tied directly to its admiring meaning.

The Tempest dates from 1611, but Miranda did not become common as an English given name until the twentieth century. That gap gives it two distinct parts to its history: several centuries as a recognizable Shakespearean name, followed by wider use beyond the stage and the page.

Miranda in The Tempest

Miranda is the daughter of Prospero, the former Duke of Milan. After his brother Antonio takes his position, Prospero lives in exile on an island with Miranda. The island is also home to the spirit Ariel and to Caliban, and Prospero’s magical powers shape much of the action.

When a storm brings a ship carrying people from Prospero’s past to the island, Miranda encounters Ferdinand, the Prince of Naples. Their relationship becomes an important part of the story’s resolution. Their engagement helps connect the younger generation’s future with the reconciliation unfolding around them.

The character places Miranda at the heart of one of Shakespeare’s best-known island settings. Its meaning suits the wonder surrounding her encounters, while the name remains closely associated with a daughter whose life has been shaped by exile, family history, and an unfamiliar world beyond the island.

A moon of Uranus

Miranda also has an astronomical namesake. Astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper discovered the Uranian moon on February 16, 1948, using photographs taken at McDonald Observatory in Texas. It was named after Prospero’s daughter in The Tempest, carrying the literary connection into the solar system.

Miranda was the last moon of Uranus discovered before Voyager 2 visited the planet in 1986. It is the smallest and closest to Uranus of the planet’s five major moons. Its surface includes strikingly varied terrain, with ridges, valleys, cliffs, and large formations called coronae. These contrasting regions make it a distinctive world despite its relatively small size.

Pronunciation and American popularity

In English, Miranda is usually pronounced mi-RAN-duh, with three syllables and the stress on the middle one. The spelling retains the form Shakespeare gave the character, so the literary name and the modern given name are immediately recognizable as the same word.

Miranda’s strongest year for American girls was 1995, when 5,978 received the name and it ranked number 57. It ranked number 280 in 2015, number 543 in 2020, and number 656 in 2025. Its largest modern wave of popularity therefore came near the end of the twentieth century, long after its first appearance in The Tempest.

How popular is Miranda?

In 2025, Miranda ranked #656 among girls in the United States, with 437 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1881; its largest annual count was 5,978 in 1995. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.