How Many People Are Named Miriam?
An estimated 69,253 people in the United States have the first name Miriam. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 38 years old, and Miriam peaked in popularity in 1924 with 1,834 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Miriam as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Miriam paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Miriam is overwhelmingly female, 280 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
69,253
About 1 in 4,949 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.8% confidence
Average Age
38
years old
Peak Year
1924
1,834 births
Total Registered
116,900
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Miriam
Miriam is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 116,900 total births registered, 99.8% were female.
Miriam as a male name
Ranked #11,724 in 2017
6 male births in 2017
Peak: 1989 (16 births)
Miriam as a female name
Ranked #251 in 2024
1,267 female births in 2024
Peak: 1924 (1,834 births)
Miriam: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Miriam span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 15,518 babies were registered. While Miriam is less common than at its peak in the 1920s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Miriam by Decade
How has Miriam tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 462 | 0 | 462 | |
| 1890s | 1,397 | 0 | 1,397 | |
| 1900s | 2,566 | 0 | 2,566 | |
| 1910s | 11,062 | 14 | 11,048 | |
| 1920s | 15,518 | 14 | 15,504 | |
| 1930s | 8,377 | 28 | 8,349 | |
| 1940s | 7,106 | 0 | 7,106 | |
| 1950s | 9,569 | 26 | 9,543 | |
| 1960s | 8,097 | 11 | 8,086 | |
| 1970s | 6,472 | 42 | 6,430 | |
| 1980s | 7,793 | 64 | 7,729 | |
| 1990s | 10,140 | 70 | 10,070 | |
| 2000s | 11,356 | 5 | 11,351 | |
| 2010s | 10,926 | 6 | 10,920 | |
| 2020s | 6,059 | 0 | 6,059 | |
Miriam by State
Birth registrations for Miriam span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, Pennsylvania, California. The lowest are in Wyoming, Alaska, Delaware. On average, about 2,121 Miriams were registered per state.
Miriam + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Miriam as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Miriam
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
Miriam: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Miriam?
We estimate approximately 69,253 people named Miriam are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 4,949 Americans share this first name.
Is Miriam a common name?
Miriam is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 99.3% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 116,900 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Miriam most popular?
Miriam reached peak popularity in 1924, when 1,834 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Miriam is approximately 38 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Miriam a female name?
Miriam is predominantly female. 99.8% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Miriam Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Miriam Smith, Miriam Johnson, Miriam Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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