Myers
Derived from the Old English word "maire", signifying "broker" or "trader".
Name Census estimates that about 514 living Americans carry the first name Myers. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Myers today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Myers births was 2024 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Myers. 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
514
~ 1 in 666,837 Americans
Peak year
2024
49 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,358
Tracked since 1913
Census
Myers in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 551 people with the first name Myers, which placed it at #19,293 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
#19,293
National first-name rank
People counted
551
551 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Myers
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Myers is White at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Black (17.8%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Myers 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 Myers at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.9% · 407
- Black or African American17.8% · 98
- Two or more races3.6% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Myers
Myers leans heavily male at 88.6% of total registrations, but 86 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Myers as a male name
- Ranked #3,358 in 2024
- 35 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (35 births)
Myers as a female name
- Ranked #7,819 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Myers on both sides of the split. Of the 551 people counted with this name, 430 were male (78.0%) and 121 were female (22.0%).
Popularity
Myers: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Myers from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 198 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Myers 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 Myers during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Myers' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Myers
The name Myers is an English surname that derives from the Old French word "miere" meaning "physician" or "doctor." It is believed to have originated as an occupational surname for someone who practiced medicine or worked as a healer. The name is first recorded in England in the 13th century.
In the Middle Ages, the name Myers was often associated with individuals who practiced folk medicine or herbalism. These early "Myers" were not formally trained physicians but rather healers who used traditional remedies and natural cures. They played an important role in providing medical care to rural communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Myers is found in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which lists a William le Myre in Oxfordshire, England. This early spelling variation highlights the name's French origins and its transition into English usage.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Myers. In the 16th century, Abraham Myers (c. 1510-1586) was a German botanist and physician who made significant contributions to the study of medicinal plants. His work, "De re Herbaria," published in 1576, was an influential text on herbal medicine.
In the 18th century, Tobias Myers (1737-1805) was a prominent American Revolutionary War soldier and politician. He served as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army and later became a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Another notable figure was Alice Myers (1828-1920), an American educator and advocate for women's rights. She played a pivotal role in establishing the first public high school for girls in Wisconsin and worked tirelessly to promote educational opportunities for women.
In the field of literature, Gustavus Adolphus Myers (1842-1909) was an American historian and author best known for his comprehensive work, "A Popular History of the United States," published in 1893.
Lastly, Walter Myers (1937-2014) was an acclaimed African American author and poet. He wrote extensively for young adults, exploring themes of identity, racial injustice, and urban life. His notable works include "Monster," "Scorpions," and "Fallen Angels," for which he received numerous awards and honors.
People
Myers + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Myers 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
Myers: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Myers?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 514 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Myers 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 666,837 US residents.
Is Myers a common name?
We classify Myers as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 753 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Myers most popular?
The single biggest year for Myers was 2024, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Myers is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Myers in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 551 people with the name Myers, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,293 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 Myers 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 Myers?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Myers on both sides of the split. Of the 551 people counted with this name, 430 were male (78.0%) and 121 were female (22.0%). 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 Myers?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Myers is White at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Black (17.8%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Myers most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Myers in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.9% (407 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 Myers in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Myers a male name?
Yes, 88.6% of people registered as Myers 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 Myers still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Myers 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 Myers 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 share the name Myers?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.