Mayra
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "renowned" or "illustrious".
Name Census estimates that about 31,934 living Americans carry the first name Mayra. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Mayra today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mayra births was 1987 (1,548 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mayra. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mayra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Mayra is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 345 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
32K
~ 1 in 10,733 Americans
Peak year
1987
1,548 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
1996 SSA rank
#1,581
Tracked since 1948
Census
Mayra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 65,661 people with the first name Mayra, which placed it at #764 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#764
National first-name rank
People counted
66K
65,661 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
21.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mayra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mayra is Hispanic at 97.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Mayra described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Mayra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.8% · 64,205
- White1.3% · 828
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 315
- Black or African American0.3% · 226
- Two or more races0.1% · 49
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 38
Gender
Gender distribution for Mayra
Mayra leans heavily female at 99.0% of total registrations, but 345 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mayra as a male name
- Ranked #6,329 in 1996
- 9 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1986 (41 births)
Mayra as a female name
- Ranked #1,581 in 2024
- 133 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1987 (1,512 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mayra appears almost entirely female. Of the 65,662 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Mayra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mayra from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 11,308 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mayra by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mayra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mayras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Mayra, while Nebraska, Kentucky, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 866 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mayra
The given name Mayra has its origins in the Spanish language and culture. It is a feminine form of the name Maurus, which is derived from the Latin word "Maurus", meaning "Moor" or "dark-skinned". The name likely emerged during the time of the Moorish rule in Spain, which lasted from the 8th to the 15th century.
The name Mayra was popular in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions during the Middle Ages. It was often associated with individuals of Moorish or North African descent, as the name itself reflects the cultural and ethnic diversity of the region during that time period.
In terms of historical references, the name Mayra is not prominently featured in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, it has been documented in various historical records and chronicles from the medieval period in Spain and other parts of the Iberian Peninsula.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Mayra dates back to the 12th century, when it was mentioned in a document from the Kingdom of Aragon. Over the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Mayra.
Mayra Martínez (1917-1992) was a Mexican actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. She was known for her roles in movies like "Enamorada" and "Salón México".
Mayra Andrade (born 1985) is a Cape Verdean singer and songwriter who has gained international recognition for her fusion of traditional Cape Verdean music with elements of jazz, blues, and soul. She has released several acclaimed albums, including "Stória, Stória" and "Criola".
Mayra Navarro (born 1976) is a Puerto Rican actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films, such as "The Sopranos" and "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City". She is also known for her philanthropy and advocacy work.
Mayra Alejandra (born 1990) is a Mexican singer and songwriter who rose to prominence after participating in the reality show "La Academia" in 2009. She has released several successful albums, including "Mayra Alejandra" and "Indeleble".
Mayra Veronica (born 1970) is a Cuban-American singer, songwriter, and actress. She has recorded numerous albums and has also appeared in several films and television shows, such as "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and "Moesha".
People
Mayra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mayra as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mayra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mayra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31,934 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mayra going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 10,733 US residents.
Is Mayra a common name?
We classify Mayra as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33,475 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mayra most popular?
The single biggest year for Mayra was 1987, when 1,548 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mayra is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mayra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 65,661 people with the name Mayra, or 21.74 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #764 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Mayra in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Mayra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mayra appears almost entirely female. Of the 65,662 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Mayra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mayra is Hispanic at 97.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Mayra most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Mayra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.8% (64,205 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mayra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mayra a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Mayra in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mayra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mayra in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mayra can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Mayra?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.