# Myra (given name)

The name Myra was created by the 17th-century poet Fulke Greville 1st Barone Brooke (1554–1628). Its origins are unknown, though some speculate the created name is an anagram of the name Mary, a variant spelling of the Latin word myrrha, meaning myrrh, a fragrant resin obtained from a tree, or derived from the Latin mirari, meaning wonder, the same source from which William Shakespeare derived the invented name Miranda.

## Origin and meaning

* English meaning of the name Myra for a girl: poetic invention
* Greek meaning of the name Myra for a girl: myrrh, an aromatic shrub. Myra is associated with the same "myrrh" that, according to Matthew, was brought as a gift to the infant Jesus by the Magi, along with gold and frankincense.
* Latin meaning of the name Myra for a girl: variation of Miranda, admirable, extraordinary
* Arabic meaning of the name Myra for a girl : Aristocratic Lady
* Hebrew meaning of the name Myra for a girl : Seadew
* Biblical meaning of the name Myra for a girl : I flow, pour out, weep
* Sanskrit meaning of the name Myra for a girl : Beloved, Favorable, Admirable.
* Japanese Kanji meaning of the name Maira 舞良: 舞 means "dance."　良 means "good."

## Distribution

The table below provides a detailed overview of the popularity of the female name Myra and variants of this in some of the countries where statistics are available.
| Land | Name form | Number of women | Percentage of women | Ranking women | Number of girls | Percentage of girls | Ranking girls |
| Saint Lucia | Myra | (2005) | that. 0.4% | that. 4 . | | | |
| Honduras | Maira | | | | (2010) | | 9. |
| India | Myra | | | | (2012) | | 12. |
| Ecuador | Mayra | 20 664 (2013) | 0,3 % | 24. | | | |
| India | Mayra | | | | (2012) | | 25. |
| Zimbabwe | Moira | (2012) | that. 0.4% | that. 32 . | | | |
| Nicaragua | Mayra | 7 128 (2003) | 0,2 % | 33. | | | |
| Colombia | Maira | (2010) | that. 0.3% | 50. | | | |
| Argentina | Maira | (2005) | that. 0.3% | 91. | | | |
| South Africa | Moira | that. 100,000 (2012) | that. 0.6% | that. 93 . | | | |
| Philippines | Myra | that. 80,000 (2012) | that. 0.2% | that. 169 . | | | |
| Great Britain | Moira | that. 40,000 (2005) | that. 0.1% | that. 187 . | | | |
| Great Britain | Myra | that. 30,000 (2005) | that. 0.08% | that. 225 . | | | |
| Germany | Maira | | | | (2012) | | 324. |
| USA | Myra | 60 386 (1990) | 0,04 % | 385. | | | |
| Germany | Mayra | | | | (2012) | | 420. |
| Sweden | Myra | | | | 13 (2012) | 0,03 % | 472. |
| Netherlands | Mayra | | | | 26 (2007) | 0,03 % | 512. |
| USA | Mayra | 27 174 (1990) | 0,02 % | 635. | | | |
| Netherlands | Myra | | | | 15 (2007) | 0,02 % | 806. |
| Netherlands | Moira | | | | 14 (2007) | 0,02 % | 846. |

## People
### Actresses

* Myra Turley, American actress
* Myra Keaton (1877–1955), American actress
* Myra Hemmings (1895–1968), American actress
* Myra Carter (1930–2016), American actress
* Myra De Groot (1937–1988), British actress
* Myra Frances (1943–2021), British actress
* Myra McFadyen (1956–2024), Scottish actress
* Myra Singh Indian child actress

### Musicians

* Myra Melford (born 1957), American jazz pianist and composer
* Myra Taylor (singer) (1917-2011), American jazz singer and songwriter
* Myra Hess (1890–1965), British pianist
* Myra Maimoh (born 1982), Cameroon singer
* Myra Merritt, American operatic soprano
* Myra Molloy (born 1997), Thai singer-songwriter and actress
* Myra Brooks Turner (1936-2017), American composer and music educator
* Myra Barnes, the birth name of Vicki Anderson (1939–2023), American soul singer

### Politics

* Myra Barry (born 1957), Irish Fine Gael politician
* Myra Jehlen, American Board of Governors Professor of English at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey
* Myra Virginia Simmons (1880-1965), American suffragist
* Myra Freeman (born 1949), Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
* Myra Ndjoku Manianga, Congo politician
* Myra McDaniel (1932-2010), the first African American to be the Secretary of State of Texas
* Myra Tanner Weiss (1917–1997), American Trotskyist
* Myra Crownover (born 1947), American politician
* Myra C. Selby (born 1955), American former nominee to be a United States Circuit Judge
* Myra Wolfgang (1914-1976), American labor leader and women's rights activist between the 1930s and 1970s
* Myra Sadd Brown (1872-1938), British campaigner for women's rights, an activist and internationalist
* Myra Curtis (1886–1971), British civil servant

### Sports

* Myra Moller (born 1984), New Zealander cyclist
* Myra Wood, American lawn bowls international
* Myra Lakdawala, American-born former athlete for Pakistan
* Myra Nimmo (born 1954), Scottish athlete and academic
* Myra Blackwelder (born 1955), American professional golfer

### Writers

* Myra Schneider (born 1936), British poet
* Myra Sklarew (born 1934), American poet, teacher and biologist
* Myra Morris (1893-1966), Australian poet, novelist, and writer for children
* Myra Taylor (scriptwriter) (1934-2012), British television scriptwriter
* Myra MacPherson (born 1934), American author
* Myra Kelly (1875–1910), Irish-American author and schoolteacher
* Myra Nye (1875-1955), American writer
* Myra Bairstow, American writer
* Myra Bradwell (1831-1894), American publisher and political activist
* Myra Douglas (1844–?), American writer, poet
* Myra Sajid (born Sajid Zaki), Pakistani dramatist, playwright and scriptwriter
* Myra Orth (1934-2002), American art historian
* Myra Belle Martin (1861-?), American teacher, writer, and financier
* Myra Bradwell Helmer Pritchard (1889-1947), American writer and golfer
* Myra Gale Brown (born 1944), American author
* Myra Roper (1911–2002), British-born Australian author and broadcaster

### Other

* Myra MacDonald, Scottish journalist
* Myra Louise Bunce (1854–1919), English designer and painter
* Myra Bennett (1890–1990), British celebrated nurse
* Myra Albert Wiggins (1869–1956), American painter and pictorial photographer who became a member of the important early 20th century Photo-Secession movement
* Myra Kukiiyaut (1929–2006), Inuk artist
* Myra Landau (1926–2018), Romanian-born artist and abstract painter
* Myra Juliet Farrell (1878–1957), Australian visionary, inventor and artist
* Myra Louise Taylor (1881–1939), British nursing superintendent
* Myra English (1933–2001), Hawaiian entertainer and celebrity tourism promoter
* Myra Hindley (1942–2002), English serial killer, known as one of the perpetrators of the Moors murders
* Myra Wilson, British computer scientist
* Myra Soble (1904–1992), Russian spy
* Myra Marx Ferree (born 1949), former professor of sociology and director of the Center for German and European Studies
* Myra Hart, founder of Staples Inc.
* Myra Kinch (1904–1981), American dancer
* Myra Knox (1853–1915), Canadian-born American physician
* Myra Kraft (1942–2011), American philanthropist
* Myra Shackley (born 1949), British professor
* Myra Reynolds (1853–1936), American literary scholar
* Myra Reynolds Richards (1882–1934), American sculptor and teacher
* Myra Sidharta (born 1927), Chinese psychologist
* Myra B. Spafard (1864–1940), American artist
* Myra Clark Gaines (1804–1885), American socialite and plaintiff
* Myra Kingman (1873–1922), American journalist
* Myra Smith Kearse (1899–1982), American physician and community leader in New Jersey
* Myra Adele Logan (1908–1977), American physician, surgeon and anatomist who was the first woman to perform open heart surgery
* Myra Butter (1925–2022), British aristocrat and thoroughbred racehorse owner
* Myra Greene is an American photographer

## Fictional characters

* Myra, a minor character in the Divergent books
* Myra Booth, a character in TV series Coronation Street
* Myra Breckinridge, the name of the main character and 1968 novel by Gore Vidal
* Myra Bruhl, a character in the play Deathtrap and in the film version with the same name
* Myra Castellanos, a character in the video game series The Evil Within
* Myra Driscoll Henshawe, a character in the 1926 novel My Mortal Enemy by Willa Carther
* Myra Licht, a character in the BBC comedy series Episodes
* Myra McQueen, a character in TV series Hollyoaks
* Myra Menke, a character in the book Holes by Louis Sachar
* Myra Monkhouse, a character in TV series Family Matters
* Myra Santelli, from the 2012 movie Girl vs. Monster
* Myra Sokolov, a character in the animated series Totally Spies!