Mireya
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "admirable" or "wonderful".
Name Census estimates that about 9,439 living Americans carry the first name Mireya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mireya today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mireya births was 1997 (567 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mireya. 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 Mireya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
9.4K
~ 1 in 36,313 Americans
Peak year
1997
567 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,066
Tracked since 1951
Census
Mireya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,363 people with the first name Mireya, which placed it at #1,872 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
#1,872
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,363 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
95.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mireya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mireya is Hispanic at 95.5%. The next largest groups are White (2.4%) and Black (1.0%). 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 Mireya 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 Mireya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.5% · 14,668
- White2.4% · 362
- Black or African American1.0% · 156
- Two or more races0.5% · 80
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 28
Popularity
Mireya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mireya from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,636 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mireya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mireya 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 Mireya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mireyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Mireya, while Tennessee, Maryland, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 269 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mireya
The name Mireya originated from the Spanish language, with its roots tracing back to the Latin name "Mirabilis," which means "wonderful" or "admirable." This name gained popularity during the Middle Ages in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions.
Mireya is believed to be a feminine form of the name Mireo, which was derived from the Latin word "mirare," meaning "to admire" or "to wonder at." The name was likely introduced as a way to express admiration for a child's beauty or exceptional qualities.
While there are no direct historical references to the name Mireya in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it shares its linguistic origins with other names that have been mentioned in various literary works and historical records throughout the centuries.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Mireya can be found in the 16th century, when it was used by Spanish nobility. Mireya de Mendoza, a Spanish noblewoman born in 1512, is one of the earliest known individuals to bear this name.
Throughout history, several notable figures have carried the name Mireya. Mireya Elisa Moscoso (1946-2019) was a Panamanian politician who served as the first female President of Panama from 1999 to 2004. Mireya Cueto (born 1932) is a Cuban dancer and choreographer who has made significant contributions to the world of ballet.
Mireya Mayor (born 1973) is a renowned primatologist, conservationist, and National Geographic Explorer. She has conducted extensive research on endangered species and has worked tirelessly to promote conservation efforts around the world.
Mireya Villarreal (born 1986) is an American journalist and news anchor. She has worked for various television networks, including CBS News and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.
Mireya Robles (born 1962) is a Mexican author and journalist known for her work in investigative journalism and her books on social issues and human rights.
People
Mireya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mireya 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
Mireya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mireya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,439 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mireya 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 36,313 US residents.
Is Mireya a common name?
We classify Mireya as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,737 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mireya most popular?
The single biggest year for Mireya was 1997, when 567 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mireya is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mireya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,363 people with the name Mireya, or 5.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,872 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 Mireya 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 Mireya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mireya appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,364 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 Mireya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mireya is Hispanic at 95.5%. The next largest groups are White (2.4%) and Black (1.0%). 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 Mireya most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Mireya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.5% (14,668 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 Mireya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mireya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mireya 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 Mireya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mireya 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 Mireya 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 common is the name Mireya?
See how many people share the name Mireya on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.