Myrna

About Myrna

Myrna is an Anglicized form of Irish Muirne, associated with “affection” or “festivity.” Its most familiar American connection is actor Myrna Loy, whose success coincided with a strong rise in the name during the 1930s. Painter Myrna Báez gives it a separate place in Puerto Rican art.

Irish origin and legend

The Irish word muirn can refer to affection or endearment and also to festivity or exuberance. Muirne belongs to that word family.

In Irish legend, Muirne is the mother of Fionn mac Cumhaill, one of the central heroes of the Fenian tradition. The character is also called Muirenn in the stories, though that form has a different proposed word history.

Murna is another Irish variant, while Morna is a related Scottish form. Myrna adapts the older name into a spelling familiar in English.

The usual English pronunciation is MUR-nuh, with two syllables and emphasis on the first. The y represents the central vowel rather than an eye sound. Many British accents leave the r unsounded, while American pronunciations generally retain it.

Myrna Loy and The Thin Man

Myrna Loy played Nora Charles in The Thin Man, released in 1934. William Powell portrayed her husband, Nick, a former detective drawn back into a murder investigation.

The couple's polished humor and easy partnership made the film one of the major successes of both actors' careers. Nora was not simply a name beside the detective's: the relationship between the two characters became central to the films' appeal.

The success led to further Thin Man films. Although the original title referred to another character, audiences increasingly associated it with Nick Charles and the continuing series.

Loy received an honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony held in March 1991. The honor recognized a long screen career, rather than a competitive win for one particular performance.

Myrna Báez and Puerto Rican painting

Myrna Báez was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, in 1931 and died in San Juan in 2018. Her work included painting and printmaking.

Her 1974 painting Platanal depicts a lush field of plantain trees. The large leaves catch the tropical light, while the handling of acrylic paint on unprimed canvas makes the surface itself part of the work's effect.

For Báez, the Puerto Rican landscape was connected with identity and independence. The painting supplies a specific artistic association for Myrna, separate from the Hollywood world that made the spelling widely familiar in the United States.

American popularity

Myrna's largest published annual count and strongest United States ranking for girls came in 1938, when 1,801 births placed it at #134.

The spelling became much rarer in later decades. There were 37 girls named Myrna in 2000 and seventeen in 2010. Eight girls were recorded in 2024. The contrast with its 1930s peak gives Myrna a particularly clear early-Hollywood-era profile in American naming history.

How popular is Myrna?

In 2025, Myrna was not listed in the latest American name records. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1885; its largest annual count was 1,801 in 1938. 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.