My
A gender-neutral given name of English origin meaning "belonging to me".
Name Census estimates that about 1,267 living Americans carry the first name My. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.1% of registrations being female. The average person named My today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of My births was 1982 (113 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for My. 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 My with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 270,524 Americans
Peak year
1982
113 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2002 SSA rank
#11,788
Tracked since 1971
Census
My in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,155 people with the first name My, which placed it at #2,838 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
#2,838
National first-name rank
People counted
8.2K
8,155 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
85.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for My
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named My is Asian/Pacific Islander at 85.2%. The next largest groups are White (7.9%) and Black (2.9%). 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 My 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 My at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander85.2% · 6,945
- White7.9% · 643
- Black or African American2.9% · 240
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 175
- Two or more races1.8% · 145
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for My
My leans heavily female at 82.1% of total registrations, but 239 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
My as a male name
- Ranked #11,890 in 2002
- 5 male births in 2002
- Peak: 1980 (22 births)
My as a female name
- Ranked #11,788 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (91 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows My on both sides of the split. Of the 8,159 people counted with this name, 1,683 were male (20.6%) and 6,476 were female (79.4%).
Popularity
My: popularity over time
The SSA tracks My from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 678 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
My 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 My during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Minnesota recorded the most babies named My, while Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of My
The given name My has its origins in the Old Norse and Germanic languages, dating back to the Viking era in Scandinavia and northern regions of Europe around the 8th to 11th centuries. It is derived from the Old Norse word "mýr," which means "marsh" or "bog," and was likely used as a descriptive name referring to someone who lived near a marshy area or worked in such an environment.
The name My appears in several ancient Norse sagas and legends, often as the name of minor characters or individuals who played a role in the stories. One notable example is the Saga of the Jomsvikings, a 13th-century Icelandic saga that mentions a character named My the Old, who was a prominent member of the Jomsvikings, a legendary order of viking mercenaries.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name My was My Halfdansson, a Norwegian chieftain who lived in the late 9th century. He is mentioned in the Icelandic Book of Settlements, which chronicles the settlement of Iceland by Norse explorers and settlers.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the given name My. One example is My Estridsson (c. 1050 - 1134), a Danish prince and claimant to the throne of Denmark during the early 12th century. Another is My Sigurdsson (1090 - 1164), a Norwegian nobleman and military commander who played a significant role in the civil wars that plagued Norway during the late 12th century.
In the 13th century, there was My Hakonsson (c. 1210 - 1257), a Norwegian nobleman and military leader who served as the Earl of Orkney and played a pivotal role in the Norwegian conquest of the Hebrides islands off the coast of Scotland.
Another notable figure with the name My was My Bjornsson (1550 - 1632), an Icelandic farmer and chieftain who is remembered for his role in the Icelandic Saga Age and for his efforts in preserving Icelandic cultural heritage.
While the name My has its roots in the Old Norse and Germanic languages, it has largely fallen out of use in modern times, particularly in its original form. However, variations and derivatives of the name, such as Myles or Miles, have remained more common in certain regions and cultures.
People
My + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with My 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
My: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named My?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,267 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for My 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 270,524 US residents.
Is My a common name?
We classify My as "Rare". It ranks above 91.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,332 babies have been registered with this name.
When was My most popular?
The single biggest year for My was 1982, when 113 babies received the name. The fact that the average living My is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was My in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,155 people with the name My, or 2.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,838 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 My 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 My?
The 2020 Census sex table shows My on both sides of the split. Of the 8,159 people counted with this name, 1,683 were male (20.6%) and 6,476 were female (79.4%). 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 My?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named My is Asian/Pacific Islander at 85.2%. The next largest groups are White (7.9%) and Black (2.9%). 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 My most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named My in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.2% (6,945 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 My in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is My a female name?
Yes, 82.1% of people registered as My 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 My still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded My 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 My 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 My?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.