Miranda Name Meaning: Origin, Popularity & Nicknames

What Does Miranda Mean?

Miranda means “Wonderful, admirable, marvelous.”

It comes from the Latin verb “miror.” “Miror” is a deponent verb, which means it looks passive despite being active.

The name Miranda comes from the verb”s gerunds, “Mirando, Miranda, Mirandum.”

What is the Origin of the Name Miranda?

Since Miranda is a name that derives from Latin, its origins go back to Ancient Rome.

While Miranda is a name with various contexts, it”s a favorite word in Ecclesiastical Latin, especially for writers trying to describe the mystery of the Eucharist.

However, Miranda didn”t become a given name for girls until Shakespeare wrote “The Tempest” in 1611 ⁽¹⁾. This has much to do with Latin naming conventions, which typically saw daughters given feminized versions of their fathers” names ⁽²⁾.

Subsequently, the name began appearing in England and gained increasing favor in approximately the 1680s.

The closest England or the Western World got to the name Miranda before the 1680s, was the name “Admiranda” ⁽³⁾. Like Miranda, Admiranda stems from the deponent verb “Miror,” but its popularity was short-lived.

How Popular is the Name Miranda?

Miranda is a fairly popular name. At present, it ranks 587 out of the 1000 most popular girls” names ⁽⁴⁾.

This decline in popularity results from an ongoing decline in Miranda”s popularity over the last 20-odd years. In 2000, Miranda was a popular name. At the time it ranked 112 out of the 500 most popular girls” names.

Since then, it has gradually gone out of fashion. In 2001, it dropped to 128 on the chart. Although it had occasional spurts of rejuvenation, especially in 2004 and again in 2010, Miranda never recovered its original popularity.

By 2017, Miranda was still a popular name but ranked 344. Afterward, it declined steadily until arriving at its present position.

How Do I Pronounce Miranda?

You pronounce Miranda like “Mir-AN-duh.”

The stress falls on the middle syllable. Additionally, the second A gets pronounced as an “Uh” sound as in “Gumption.”

Is Miranda a Boy or Girl Name?

Miranda is a predominantly female name. This may owe to Shakespeare, who initially attributed the name Miranda to a female character.

But it”s equally because Miranda is the feminine gerund of the verb “Miror.”

Similarly, predecessors to the name Miranda, like Amiranda, derived from the Medieval tradition of constructing elaborately stylized and feminine names for young girls. But since the English language no longer had declensions, many parents looked to languages that still assigned gender and case to their nouns and took inspiration from them.

The result was names like Miranda that had specific gender assignations.

Variations of Miranda

Possibly because of its specific linguistic origins, there aren”t many variations of Miranda. This is particularly true of Romance languages, where the spelling remains relatively consistent. However, several variations on the name Miranda exist, including:

• Mirada (Latin)
• Miralda (Estonian)
• Míranda (Icelandic)
• Mirandola (Hungarian)
• Mirha (Muslim)
• Myranda (English)

Nicknames for Miranda

While there aren”t as many variations of Miranda as there are for other names, it offers a variety of nicknames and shorter derivates. Some of the most popular diminutives for Miranda include:

• Mia
• Mim
• Mimi
• Mira
• Mirandina
• Mirda
• Miri
• Rada
• Randa
• Randee
• Randi

Similar Names to Miranda

If you aren”t sure the name Miranda is for you or your family, there are other names you can consider. Names with similar meanings and origins to Miranda include:

• Adriana
• Amanda
• Amelia
• Alexandra
• Beatrice
• Cassandra
• Cecilia
• Cordelia
• Emilia
• Helena
• Isabella
• Julia
• Olivia
• Ophelia
• Perdita
• Portia
• Regan
• Rosalind
• Viola
• Violet

Middle Names for Miranda

Many middle names work well with Miranda. Some parental favorites include:

• Adelaide
• Astrid
• Ariel
• Aurora
• Charlotte
• Dahlia
• Delilah
• Elois
• Eve
• Hannah
• Joanna
• June
• Isabelle
• Lucy
• Olive
• Penelope
• Phoebe
• Sophia
• Rosie
• Victoria

Sibling Names for Miranda

There are also a variety of sibling names that work well with the name Miranda.

For a Brother

The most popular names for the brothers of Miranda include:

• Aaron
• Adam
• Colin
• Leo
• Matthew
• Noah
• Oliver
• Owen
• Sebastian
• Victor

For a Sister

Popular girls” names for sisters of Miranda include:

• Ada
• Alexandra
• Astra
• Clara
• Cordelia
• Elle
• Eleanor
• Evelyn
• Olivia
• Ruth

Famous People Named Miranda

History is full of notorious Mirandas. Some of its most famous include:

• Miranda Carter: English writer
• Miranda Devine: Australian columnist
• Miranda Hill: English social reformer
• Miranda Kwok: Canadian film actress and producer
• Miranda Seymour: English novelist, literary critic, and biographer

Miranda in Popular Culture

There is also a long history of Mirandas in popular culture and they run the gamut from science fiction to Shakespeare. Well-known but fictitious Mirandas include:

• Miranda: Character in Shakespeare”s “The Tempest”
• Miranda: Planet in telemovie “Serenity”
• Miranda: The missing child in the novel “Picnic at Hanging Rock”
• Miranda Barlow: Character on television series “Black Sails”
• Miranda Caroll: Character in Emily St John Mandel”s novel “Station Eleven”
• Miranda Pryor: Character in L. M. Montgomery”s novel “Rilla of Ingleside”

Miranda FAQs

Still, debating whether the name Miranda is right for your child? Here are other questions people ask about the name Miranda.