Muir
A masculine name of Gaelic origin referring to a flat-topped hill.
Name Census estimates that about 7 living Americans carry the first name Muir. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Muir today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Muir births was 2018 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Muir. 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 Muir with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Muir. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
7
~ 1 in 48,964,905 Americans
Peak year
2018
7 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2018 SSA rank
#10,390
Tracked since 2018
Popularity
Muir: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Muir 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 Muir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Muir
The name Muir has its origins in the Celtic languages of the British Isles. It is derived from the Scottish Gaelic word "muir," meaning "sea" or "ocean." The name likely originated as a descriptive term for someone who lived near the sea or worked as a sailor or fisherman.
In the early Middle Ages, the name appears to have been primarily used in Scotland and the surrounding areas. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Annals of Ulster, an Irish chronicle dating back to the 15th century, which mentions a man named "Muiredach" who lived in the late 6th century.
The name Muir gained prominence in the 12th and 13th centuries, with several notable figures bearing the name. One of the most famous was Muir of Huntingdon, a 12th-century English historian and author of the "Historia Anglorum" (History of the English People), which chronicled the history of England from the earliest times to the reign of King Stephen in the mid-12th century.
Another notable figure was Sir William Muir, a 19th-century Scottish Orientalist and historian, born in 1819 and died in 1905. He is best known for his multi-volume work "The Life of Mahomet and History of Islam," which provided a comprehensive account of the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the early history of Islam.
In the literary world, the name is associated with John Muir, the renowned Scottish-American naturalist, author, and advocate for the preservation of wilderness areas. Born in 1838 and died in 1914, Muir played a crucial role in the establishment of national parks in the United States, including Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.
In the field of science, Sir William Muir Russell, a Scottish anatomist and anthropologist, born in 1834 and died in 1909, made significant contributions to the study of human anatomy and the evolution of human species.
The name Muir has also been associated with various other notable figures throughout history, including Muir Edmondston, a 19th-century Scottish naturalist and explorer, and Muir Mathieson, a 20th-century Scottish conductor and composer known for his contributions to the film industry.
People
Muir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Muir 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
Muir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Muir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Muir 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 48,964,905 US residents.
Is Muir a common name?
We classify Muir as "Very Rare". It ranks above 23.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Muir most popular?
The single biggest year for Muir was 2018, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Muir is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Muir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Muir a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Muir in the SSA data are male. 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 Muir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Muir 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 Muir 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Muir?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Muir at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.