Miranda (given name)

Miranda
Miranda (The Tempest) from The Tempest by John William Waterhouse.
Pronunciation/mɪˈrændə/ mə-RAN-də
GenderFeminine
Origin
Word/nameLatin
Meaning"worthy of admiration"
Other names
Variant form(s)Mirinda

Miranda is a feminine given name of Latin origin, meaning "worthy of admiration", deriving the feminine name from the Latin word mirandus. Although it existed as a surname prior, held by, for example, Giovanni Miranda (fl. 1566) and Juan Carreño de Miranda (born 1614),[1][2][3][4] William Shakespeare originated use of the name as a forename for a character in his play The Tempest. In the play, the character is addressed as “Admired Miranda! Indeed the top of admiration! Worth what’s dearest to the world!” People named their daughters after the Shakespearean character beginning in the 1700s. The name was more popular in the United States than elsewhere in the Anglosphere, possibly due to its similarity in sound to Amanda, a name also more common for American girls by the 1800s. The name declined in use after 1900 but was revived in the United Kingdom due to the popularity of the 1948 British fantasy film Miranda about a mermaid named Miranda. The name also increased in usage in the United States when the film began airing on television there in the 1950s. Other media influences also increased usage of the name through the early 2000s. The name has recently declined in usage in the United States due to negative associations with the satirical character Miranda Sings.[5]

  1. ^ The Surnames of the Maltese Islands- An Etymological Dictionary, Mario Cassar, Book Distributors Ltd, 2003, p. 393
  2. ^ Hispanic Surnames and Family History, Lyman D. Platt, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2008, pp. 133, 344
  3. ^ Book of Jewish and Crypto-Jewish Surnames, Judith K. Jarvis, Susan L. Levin, Donald N. Yates, CreateSpace, 2018, pp. 17, 49, 64
  4. ^ Spanish Surnames, a List- Attachments J1 and J2, General Coding Procedures Manual, 1970 Census, United States Census Bureau, 1971, pp. 16, 25
  5. ^ Evans, Cleveland Kent (3 July 2022). "Cleveland Evans: 'Admired' Miranda Poplarity Flows with the Tides". omaha.com. Omaha World Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2024.