Miranda
A feminine name derived from the Latin word "mirandus" meaning "admirable" or "wonderful".
Name Census estimates that about 109,885 living Americans carry the first name Miranda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Miranda today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Miranda births was 1995 (5,984 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Miranda. 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 Miranda with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Miranda is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 189 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
110K
~ 1 in 3,119 Americans
Peak year
1995
5,984 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2021 SSA rank
#622
Tracked since 1881
Census
Miranda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 99,789 people with the first name Miranda, which placed it at #550 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
#550
National first-name rank
People counted
100K
99,789 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
33.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Miranda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Miranda is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.0%) and Black (5.0%). 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 Miranda 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 Miranda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.9% · 64,780
- Hispanic or Latino23.0% · 22,949
- Black or African American5.0% · 4,947
- Two or more races4.1% · 4,060
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 1,907
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 1,146
Gender
Gender distribution for Miranda
Out of the 114,730 babies given the name Miranda since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Miranda as a male name
- Ranked #13,428 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 2005 (10 births)
Miranda as a female name
- Ranked #622 in 2024
- 478 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (5,978 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Miranda appears almost entirely female. Of the 99,796 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Miranda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Miranda from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 42,274 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Miranda 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 Miranda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mirandas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Miranda, while Hawaii, District of Columbia, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,199 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Miranda
The given name Miranda originated from the Latin word "mirandus", meaning "admirable" or "wonderful". It first appeared during the Middle Ages in Italy and Spain.
In literature, the name Miranda gained prominence through William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest", written in the early 17th century. In the play, Miranda is the daughter of Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Miranda dates back to the 13th century. Miranda de Ebro was a medieval Spanish noblewoman and the wife of King Ferdinand III of Castile.
Miranda Staunton (c. 1590-1665) was an English courtier during the reign of King James I. She served as a maid of honor to Anne of Denmark, the queen consort.
Miranda Barry (1659-1724) was an Irish philanthropist and the founder of the Barrymore family. She established several schools and charitable institutions in County Cork, Ireland.
Miranda Grosvenor (1693-1730) was a British aristocrat and the first Countess of Grosvenor. She was married to Sir Richard Grosvenor, the 4th Baronet of Eaton.
Miranda Neville (1719-1794) was an English writer and playwright. She is best known for her satirical plays and her involvement in the Bluestocking Circle, a literary society in London.
In the late 18th century, Miranda Peyser (1770-1839) was a prominent German actress and singer. She performed in various theaters across Europe and was renowned for her roles in operas and plays.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Miranda
People
Miranda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Miranda 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
Miranda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Miranda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109,885 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Miranda 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 3,119 US residents.
Is Miranda a common name?
We classify Miranda as "Common". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 114,730 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Miranda most popular?
The single biggest year for Miranda was 1995, when 5,984 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Miranda is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Miranda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 99,789 people with the name Miranda, or 33.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #550 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 Miranda 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 Miranda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Miranda appears almost entirely female. Of the 99,796 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 Miranda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Miranda is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.0%) and Black (5.0%). 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 Miranda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Miranda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.9% (64,780 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 Miranda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Miranda a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Miranda 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 Miranda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Miranda 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 Miranda 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 Miranda?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.