Murl
UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Murl has been given to 2,567 babies in the U.S. since 1886. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1919, with 65 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 76% boys, 24% girls all-time.
Babies named Murl, 1983
1 in 693,000
Murl over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Murl over time
In 1983, Murl went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Murl?
Murl had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1983, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 1983
- 1 in 693,000
- 5 of 3,463,011 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 358,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 1983
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 480,076 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Murl sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 1983 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 480,076 children born in 1983 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Murl. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Murls were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Murl was born before 1929 — so the typical Murl is around 96 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1920s
- 26.3% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 7.9%
- Mostly a past generation
- Recorded since 1950
- 324
- People you could plausibly meet
1920s — 26.3% of all recorded uses (511).
Is Murl rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1919 (65)
- Years since peak
- 106
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 26.5% average annual change
Spellings of Murl
Murl is not the most common spelling — Mark is, with 52.0% against Murl's 0.07%.
Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.
Where Murl is used — boys
Across 1910–2025, Murl was most concentrated in Oklahoma — about 1 in 20,000 boys, against 1 in 161,596 across all states with data. It was least common in West Virginia (1 in —).
Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Murl has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Where Murl is used — girls
Across 1910–2025, Murl was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 445,356 across all states with data. It was least common in West Virginia (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1Texas1 in —
- 2West Virginia1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Murl has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Murl by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Murl
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Murl
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.