Myra

About Myra

Myra is an English literary name, usually pronounced MY-ruh. The seventeenth-century poet Fulke Greville created it, perhaps from the word for myrrh or by rearranging Mary. Its original inspiration remains uncertain, but its later history includes pianist Myra Hess and legal pioneer Myra Bradwell.

A poet’s invention

Greville’s Myra may reflect Latin myrra, the fragrant resin known in English as myrrh. Another explanation is simpler: Myra contains the same four letters as Mary in a different order. Neither possibility is certain enough to turn into an unquestioned literal meaning.

There was also an ancient Anatolian city called Myra. Its identical spelling provides a geographical association, but the literary personal name is not etymologically derived from that city.

Mayra is a related form used in Spanish-speaking and Hispanic American contexts. In English, Myra has two syllables, with the first rhyming with “sky.” Its final vowel is unstressed, giving a long opening vowel followed by a softer ending.

Myra Hess and music in wartime

When the Second World War began, London’s National Gallery moved its paintings to safer locations. The emptied galleries became an unexpected setting for music through an initiative led by pianist Myra Hess.

The concerts began on October 10, 1939. Hess worked with a team that included composer Howard Ferguson, her niece Beryl Davies, and her agents, who helped organize performers and publicity. Lunchtime performances took place from Monday to Friday.

The arrangements were deliberately informal. Visitors did not need to reserve seats and could bring lunch or come and go. A volunteer canteen soon joined the concerts, raising money for wartime charities.

The series continued for six and a half years. Hess’s connection gives Myra a particular story of public music-making: a major art museum, temporarily without its pictures, becoming a place where people gathered to listen during wartime.

Myra Bradwell and the law

Myra Bradwell’s name appears in an important nineteenth-century American legal case. Illinois refused to admit her to legal practice despite evidence that she possessed the required qualifications. She challenged that refusal under the United States Constitution.

In Bradwell v. The State in 1873, the Supreme Court rejected her argument. The Court held that admission to practice in a state’s courts was not a federal citizenship privilege protected in the way she claimed.

Her case places Myra within the history of women’s efforts to enter the legal profession. It is a different historical association from Hess’s concerts, connected with a named applicant and a decision that recorded the barriers women faced.

American popularity

Myra ranked #158 for girls in 1880, its strongest position in the local American series. Its largest annual count came in 1958, when 1,288 girls received the name.

Usage later declined, reaching 230 girls in 2000. In 2025 Myra was given to 429 girls and ranked #663. The recent count represents a modest recovery for a spelling with a much longer American record.

How popular is Myra?

In 2025, Myra ranked #663 among girls in the United States, with 429 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1880; its largest annual count was 1,288 in 1958. 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.