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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Myra?

312 replies

theinterest · 11/10/2025 14:24

My DH and I thought we were settled on the name Myra for our baby due later this year, but having been settled on this for several months I’m not sure how others will view it? Neither of us are into crime type media, early 30s, and live in the south of England so somehow managed to miss the connection to Myra Hindley until now. My DH is still completely set on it, but I worry now what others will think (blame the hormones). Lyra isn’t an option for us due to a close friends baby being called that earlier this year.

I’m really after view in what you all think? I love the name but now doubting if it’s the right thing to use!

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Lemonadepie · 13/10/2025 19:15

No way

noname272 · 12/10/2025 19:42

another one who immediately thought hindley

what about Layla

Missj25 · 12/10/2025 19:27

theinterest · 11/10/2025 14:24

My DH and I thought we were settled on the name Myra for our baby due later this year, but having been settled on this for several months I’m not sure how others will view it? Neither of us are into crime type media, early 30s, and live in the south of England so somehow managed to miss the connection to Myra Hindley until now. My DH is still completely set on it, but I worry now what others will think (blame the hormones). Lyra isn’t an option for us due to a close friends baby being called that earlier this year.

I’m really after view in what you all think? I love the name but now doubting if it’s the right thing to use!

Also a no from me OP ..
Completely different name here now that I’m going to say , I just think it’s so feminine..
Annalise , pronounced Annaleese …

StartingOverIn2025 · 12/10/2025 19:19

How about Mia? Or Maya?

AllPlayedOut · 12/10/2025 19:16

AprilinPortugal · 12/10/2025 19:07

Exactly!! Why not? Because they are men? And Myra was a woman? And therefore more to blame? Ian Brady was just as much, if not more, to blame for the atrocities

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No because they are much more common names so have far more alternative associations and people are much more likely to have known an Ian or a Rose as in Rose West. As another poster said if Myra Hindley had been called Anne people wouldn’t immediately associate the name with Hindley because Anne is so common but Myra is much less common so she’s who people immediately think of.

DingDongJingle · 12/10/2025 19:13

AprilinPortugal · 12/10/2025 19:10

Admittedly I haven't read the whole thread. But it makes me mad...Ian fucking Brady was just as much, if not more, to blame for the terrible things that happened to those poor children.

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Agreed. Doesn’t change the fact that Ian is a common name, and Myra isn’t.

AprilinPortugal · 12/10/2025 19:10

AllPlayedOut · 12/10/2025 08:08

The reasons for that have been addressed multiple times throughout the thread.

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Admittedly I haven't read the whole thread. But it makes me mad...Ian fucking Brady was just as much, if not more, to blame for the terrible things that happened to those poor children.

AprilinPortugal · 12/10/2025 19:07

sashh · 12/10/2025 08:25

Ian Watkins
Ian Brady
Ian Huntley

And yet the association is not there.

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Exactly!! Why not? Because they are men? And Myra was a woman? And therefore more to blame? Ian Brady was just as much, if not more, to blame for the atrocities

Roaminginthegloaming · 12/10/2025 18:31

@theinterest

Maybe these similar sounding names?

Maura or Meera

My Irish friend’s name is Maura.

There’s a famous Indian-American film director and playwright called Meera Nair (‘Monsoon Wedding’ / The Namesake).

Meera Syal is a British Indian comedienne/writer/singer/playwright/actress (‘Goodness Gracious Me’ / The Kumars at No 42)

TheHillIsMine · 12/10/2025 17:49

spookymelon666 · 12/10/2025 07:32

No. What about Mira?

🙄

LeatherJacketWedding · 12/10/2025 14:59

sashh · 12/10/2025 07:38

One of my late mum's friends is a Myra. It is a lovely name but the link with Hindley is so strong it spoils it.

And it isn't just about the 1960s, in the 1980s both confessed and both were taken to the moors in an attempt to find burial sites.

Keith Bennet's body is still on that moor, somewhere.

I think that is why I probably wouldn't use the name, if his body is found it will be a big story meaning the association is back in everyone's mind. And that could be anytime when your little girl is a child, a teenager, an adult.

Other names don't have such a strong association. Rose West murdered more but because there are a lot of women with the name 'Rose' the link isn't as strong.

Exactly. I do also believe that they commited more murders and that there is more to come out. When Ian Bradey’s autobiography ‘Blacklight’ is eventually recovered (if his detestable former solicitor hasn’t destroyed it) along with the contents of suitcases (also in the solicitor’s possession), it will be huge news again. It will also only take a glossy, big budget Netflix dramatisation for it to go global.

ScruffMuffin · 12/10/2025 13:56

Or Maya/ Mya?

ScruffMuffin · 12/10/2025 13:55

Mara is lovely...

ainsleysanob · 12/10/2025 12:47

Roaminginthegloaming · 12/10/2025 10:54

Absolutely not.
However, come to think of it, the name Rose is currently very popular although another serial killer Rose West is a more recent notorious criminal.

Because I suppose Rose is, and always has been far more popular than Myra! I know loads of Roses, Rosie’s, even a Rosa. I know no one called Myra. If someone told me they’d called their baby Rose - the first person who’d come to my mind is Rose from Titanic. Not Rose West. Myra on the other hand…. It’s about popularity. The more Myra’s would have diluted the comnection, but there aren’t many, so she’s the first person you connect with the name!

Roaminginthegloaming · 12/10/2025 10:54

Absolutely not.
However, come to think of it, the name Rose is currently very popular although another serial killer Rose West is a more recent notorious criminal.

MaloryJones · 12/10/2025 09:31

TeaRoseTallulah · 11/10/2025 15:03

It's a lovely name, I always think of a lovely health visitor I knew who was called Myra.

My eldest DS had a Health Visitor named Myra (way back in 1991)
Was it at a clinic in London SE12 per chance ?

wineosaurusrex · 12/10/2025 09:04

No! It so wouldnt be fair on your daughter. You might not make the Hindley connection but I guarentee that literally everyone she meets for the rest of her life will!

IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle · 12/10/2025 08:39

sashh · 12/10/2025 08:25

Ian Watkins
Ian Brady
Ian Huntley

And yet the association is not there.

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Oh fgs -as has been explained several times there are1000s of men called Ian or Iain or Jack or Peter or women called Rose or Lucy.

"Ian" makes me think of the various Ians or Iains I know, including Iain Glen.

Flomingho · 12/10/2025 08:38

Sorry , whilst there is nothing wrong with the name it has been ruined by Hindley. Could you consider something similar such as Mya as an alternative?

sashh · 12/10/2025 08:25

AprilinPortugal · 12/10/2025 08:04

i wonder if the younger generations will associate that name with Myra Hindley though. It does seem a bit off that no-one associates the name "Ian" with Ian Brady! Nor do there seem to be bad associations with "Ted" or "Jeffery"

Ian Watkins
Ian Brady
Ian Huntley

And yet the association is not there.

IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle · 12/10/2025 08:08

Bladderpool · 12/10/2025 05:48

That’s nice for you. Again, I made the point that I was shocked by someone of this generation being named Myra. What’s the point in saying “well i don’t know of anyone called Myra” other than to imply I’m making it up?

Yet another example of the mumsnet phenomenon that if it didn’t happen to you, it didn’t happen 🙄

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No it isn't. The other examples are just emphasising it's vanishingly rare.

AllPlayedOut · 12/10/2025 08:08

AprilinPortugal · 12/10/2025 08:04

i wonder if the younger generations will associate that name with Myra Hindley though. It does seem a bit off that no-one associates the name "Ian" with Ian Brady! Nor do there seem to be bad associations with "Ted" or "Jeffery"

The reasons for that have been addressed multiple times throughout the thread.

AprilinPortugal · 12/10/2025 08:04

i wonder if the younger generations will associate that name with Myra Hindley though. It does seem a bit off that no-one associates the name "Ian" with Ian Brady! Nor do there seem to be bad associations with "Ted" or "Jeffery"

DappledThings · 12/10/2025 07:39

If it carries on on its current trend it will be top 100 in the next 10 years. You are only slightly ahead of the curve.

sashh · 12/10/2025 07:38

One of my late mum's friends is a Myra. It is a lovely name but the link with Hindley is so strong it spoils it.

And it isn't just about the 1960s, in the 1980s both confessed and both were taken to the moors in an attempt to find burial sites.

Keith Bennet's body is still on that moor, somewhere.

I think that is why I probably wouldn't use the name, if his body is found it will be a big story meaning the association is back in everyone's mind. And that could be anytime when your little girl is a child, a teenager, an adult.

Other names don't have such a strong association. Rose West murdered more but because there are a lot of women with the name 'Rose' the link isn't as strong.