How rare is the name Miriam?

107,719 people in the United States have the first name Miriam, about 1 in 2,804. It ranks #524 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

MIRIAM

#524

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
107,719
About
1 in 2,804
This common or more
59.3%
Who bears it

Of the 107,719 people named Miriam, 49.6% reported their origin as Hispanic or Latino, 41.5% as White and 5.1% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Miriam peaked in 1924, when 1,834 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1924
Births that year
1,834
In 2025*
1,262 ▼31%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 118,190 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Miriam by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #251. The largest share of babies named Miriam, 22.5%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#521462
1890s#3421,397
1900s#2842,566
1910s#25111,062
1920s#27515,518
1930s#3908,376
1940s#4887,107
1950s#5099,570
1960s#5918,095
1970s#6526,475
1980s#5987,793
1990s#56110,141
2000s#56911,361
2010s#61010,933
2020s#5407,334
Before 19011.8%
Greatest Generation 1901–2722.5%
Silent Generation 1928–4512.6%
Baby boom 1946–6414.5%
Generation X 1965–809%
Millennials 1981–9612%
Generation Z 1997–1214.8%
2013 and later12.8%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Miriam is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Miriam has been most common in New York (2.9×), New Jersey (2.1×), and Pennsylvania (1.7×), and least common in Montana (0.12×).

109,428 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Miriam

#522 Aidan · 108,843#523 Bryce · 107,825#525 Ray · 107,593#526 Ben · 107,539

Spelled almost the same

7 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Miriam, most common first.

#2,796 Mirian · 8,298#7,108 Miryam · 2,175#24,979 Mirriam · 382#25,184 Miram · 378#39,783 Mirium · 189#49,963 Mirim · 122#51,177 Miriama · 115

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