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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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BananaPeels · 11/10/2025 18:14

I have to admit, just seeing the name on its own I didn’t make the connection. If it had been out with a different surname I don’t think I would have probably thought too much about it. It is a nice name but I agree if the opinion on here is such that 99% people might raise an eyebrow, probably best to avoid.

ilovesushi · 11/10/2025 18:07

I am on the fence. I had a great auntie Myra who pre-dated the murder by the woman of the same name. This is the first time I've ever linked the two in my head to be honest. Away from that awful connotation I think it is a really pretty old fashioned name. For your DD's generation it won't be a thing and anyone in her circle is going to associate Myra with her and her alone. I feel like the name needs to be reclaimed but at the same time it's still an awful association to have. My DD has a fairly unusual name - not out there just not in common usage. She used to love hearing about other people with her same name as she didn't know anyone in real life. It would be sad that the only person you know with your name was a murder.

Bladderpool · 11/10/2025 18:06

TimeForATerf · 11/10/2025 17:38

Fifties, really? I’m 59, I went to an all girls’ school and have never known anyone around my age called Myra, we were a generation of Karen, Joanne, Debra and Susans.

I did know a Myra though, she was my mums hairdresser and of the same generation as mum, who’s in her 80s, which would be what Hindley would be if still alive.

Show quote history

Yes, she’s 55. Are you suggesting I’m making it up?

Sassylovesbooks · 11/10/2025 18:00

Unfortunately, Myra Hindley is the first thing I think of when I hear the name. I wasn't born at the time her and Ian Brady committed their crimes, but I've read enough about them. It's possible the younger generation may not know the association with the name. However, it's not one I'd choose.

Xmasbaby11 · 11/10/2025 18:00

It's Hindley to me, sorry. I'm 49.

clary · 11/10/2025 17:54

I see you are going to rethink @theinterest and I think that’s a good idea. I immediately thought Hindley, sorry. I am old though. I just asked DD (mid-20s) what she thought of when I said the name and she looked blank and said it meant nothing to her, which is interesting.

So maybe the case is dying out of consciousness. But I think it will be a while before the name is usable. DD and I agreed that Adolf is still and probs always will be unusable, but Joseph, for example, is fine (despite Stalin being a mass murderer) as it is a common name with many other associations.

Dee51121 · 11/10/2025 17:52

SpottyAardvark · 11/10/2025 17:14

This has got to be a wind-up. I simply refuse to believe that anyone would even consider calling a little girl Myra, in exactly the same way as I refuse to believe they would call her brother Adolf.

Myra was within the top 400 girls names in England and Wales last year

Quamarina · 11/10/2025 17:50

It’s a shame OP, it’s a pretty name but this name fell out of fashion for very good reasons. One of my lovely colleagues was considering it for her baby, she’d moved here from Pakistan where its still a common enough name & had no prior knowledge of the moors murders, but swiftly changed her mind after a google search when we tactfully said while it’s a lovely name it does have a horrid association. I think you want to set your little girl up with the best opportunity in life, not to have people recoil in confusion about what were you thinking, when she’s introduced

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 11/10/2025 17:49

Back to the drawing board!

housethatbuiltme · 11/10/2025 17:48

Honestly I assumed this was a thread about Hindly just from seeing Myra.

Have you considered Mira (Mee-ra)?

Saveusename · 11/10/2025 17:48

Algen · 11/10/2025 14:34

I think it’s a pretty name and personally wouldn’t immediately associate it with Myra Hindley (I’m more likely to think of the folk song). However, as seen from this thread a lot of people still have that association - I’d actually be interested to know the age range of people responding, as I really don’t know if it’s one of those names that would always be an issue or one of those names where her peers would have no clue. (I’m mid 40s, so Myra Hindley was really before my time and not local to me anyway, so perhaps not as much impact.)

Mid 30s here and I immediately thought of it.

It’s like saying Adolf is a goer because it’s before our time and Germany isn’t local.

Just don’t OP.

Horrific associations.

Whereismyfleeceblanket · 11/10/2025 17:46

No registrar should agree to it imo.
And no parent should want a dd saddled with it either....

PlayingDevilsAdvocateisinteresting · 11/10/2025 17:45

Unfortunately, I also thought of Hindley immediately. So, I agree with many of the other Mumsnetters here, please don't name your dear daughter the same name as Hindley's.

ainsleysanob · 11/10/2025 17:44

Algen · 11/10/2025 14:34

I think it’s a pretty name and personally wouldn’t immediately associate it with Myra Hindley (I’m more likely to think of the folk song). However, as seen from this thread a lot of people still have that association - I’d actually be interested to know the age range of people responding, as I really don’t know if it’s one of those names that would always be an issue or one of those names where her peers would have no clue. (I’m mid 40s, so Myra Hindley was really before my time and not local to me anyway, so perhaps not as much impact.)

I wasn’t around in the 30s or 40s but I wouldn’t call my child Adolf! The Moors Murders and their perpetrators are infamous and while there are millions of Ian’s, Myra isn’t common enough to not have people immediately think of ‘the’ Myra.

YerArseInParsley · 11/10/2025 17:43

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!

I actually thought this was going to be about Myra Hindley when I saw thd name. Sorry!

Imonmyway · 11/10/2025 17:42

How about Marie?

TimeForATerf · 11/10/2025 17:38

Bladderpool · 11/10/2025 14:28

I know someone in their 50s named Myra, I still don’t understand what her parents were thinking. Unfortunately it’s a connection that just won’t quit.

Fifties, really? I’m 59, I went to an all girls’ school and have never known anyone around my age called Myra, we were a generation of Karen, Joanne, Debra and Susans.

I did know a Myra though, she was my mums hairdresser and of the same generation as mum, who’s in her 80s, which would be what Hindley would be if still alive.

IHaveAlwaysLivedintheCastle · 11/10/2025 17:38

LotusFlower24 · 11/10/2025 17:07

I have an acquaintance named Mayra (sounds like Myra)I know the Hindley story but never once has that come to my mind when spending time with her! I also know a Peter but never once have I thought of Peter Tobin the murderer..only thinking of it now as trying to think of similar examples. There's always going to be someone in the world with same name or similar to that of a criminal.

You don't think of Peter Tobin because there 1000s of other Peters.

CountryQueen · 11/10/2025 17:37

I’d divorce my husband before I agreed to call my kid Myra.

MaisieMacabe · 11/10/2025 17:37

Some good alternatives here, OP.
Lara, Mara, Maura, Maya, Mila....etc

MaisieMacabe · 11/10/2025 17:36

CremeBruhlee · 11/10/2025 17:35

Absolutely not sorry. Mara or Nova perhaps

Not Nova, that was that music festival where those young people were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas.

Uptipp2025 · 11/10/2025 17:36

My nieces are 17 and 23 and I asked what was the first thing they thought when I said Myra they both without hesitation said Hindley and that’s because there was a recent drama

fairycupcakes · 11/10/2025 17:35

Absolutely not, sorry as it is a pretty name but for the connotation it conjures up it’s got to be a no.

as others have said it’s one of those names you just cannot use.

What about Meera/Mira?

CremeBruhlee · 11/10/2025 17:35

Absolutely not sorry. Mara or Nova perhaps

Myblueclematis · 11/10/2025 17:34

I'm of an age where the name Myra only conjures up one person.

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