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.
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
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)
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.
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.
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.