Myer
Derived from the German name Meyer, meaning a landlord or overseer.
Name Census estimates that about 492 living Americans carry the first name Myer. It is a predominantly male name (96.5% of registrations). The average person named Myer today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Myer births was 1918 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Myer. 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 Myer with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
492
~ 1 in 696,655 Americans
Peak year
1918
48 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,654
Tracked since 1893
Census
Myer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 526 people with the first name Myer, which placed it at #19,885 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
#19,885
National first-name rank
People counted
526
526 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Myer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Myer is White at 72.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Myer 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 Myer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.6% · 382
- Black or African American11.4% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 27
- Two or more races4.8% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Myer
Myer leans heavily male at 96.5% of total registrations, but 38 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Myer as a male name
- Ranked #3,654 in 2024
- 31 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (48 births)
Myer as a female name
- Ranked #16,874 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Myer leans strongly male. 471 people counted with this name were male (89.2%), compared with 57 female bearers (10.8%).
Popularity
Myer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Myer from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 331 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Myer remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Myer 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 Myer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Myers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Myer, while California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Myer
The given name Myer has its roots in the German language, specifically derived from the word "meier," which means a steward or a bailiff responsible for overseeing an estate or a farm. This name has its origins dating back to the Middle Ages, around the 12th to 15th centuries, when the feudal system was prevalent in Europe.
During this period, the name Myer was commonly used to refer to individuals who held positions of authority and responsibility in managing agricultural lands or estates owned by nobility or the church. The name gained popularity among the German-speaking population and eventually spread to other regions as well.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Myer can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of historical documents from the 12th century, where it is mentioned in connection with various landholdings and administrative roles.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Myer. One of the most famous was Myer Prinstein (1818-1903), a German-American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune in the brewing industry and was instrumental in the development of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Another prominent figure was Myer Kutz (1751-1821), a German-Jewish scholar and author who wrote extensively on Jewish law and tradition, making significant contributions to the study of the Talmud.
In the world of literature, Myer Ezekiel Isaacs (1925-2012) was a South African poet and academic, renowned for his work exploring the Jewish experience in South Africa and promoting cross-cultural understanding.
Myer Fredman (1934-2020) was a British businessman and philanthropist, known for his significant charitable contributions to various causes, including education and medical research.
Lastly, Myer Horowitz (1932-2012) was a Canadian academic and administrator, serving as the president of the University of Alberta from 1979 to 1989, and making notable contributions to higher education in Canada.
These individuals, spanning different time periods and fields, exemplify the rich history and diverse backgrounds associated with the given name Myer, which has its origins rooted in the German language and cultural heritage.
People
Myer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Myer 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
Myer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Myer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 492 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Myer 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 696,655 US residents.
Is Myer a common name?
We classify Myer as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,085 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Myer most popular?
The single biggest year for Myer was 1918, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Myer is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Myer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 526 people with the name Myer, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,885 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 Myer 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 Myer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Myer leans strongly male. 471 people counted with this name were male (89.2%), compared with 57 female bearers (10.8%). 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 Myer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Myer is White at 72.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Myer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Myer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.6% (382 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 Myer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Myer a male name?
Yes, 96.5% of people registered as Myer 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 Myer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Myer 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 Myer 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 Myer?
You can see how many people share the name Myer on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.