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.

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 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), Inuit 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!