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]
 Miranda (The Tempest) from The Tempest by John William Waterhouse. | |
| Pronunciation | /mɪˈrændə/ mə-RAN-də |
|---|---|
| Gender | Feminine |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Latin |
| Meaning | "worthy of admiration" |
| Other names | |
| Variant form(s) | Mirinda |
Usage
editThe name has been well used in the Anglosphere since the 20th century. Usage of the name in the United States peaked during the 1990s, when it was among the 100 most popular names for American girls. It also peaked in usage in the 1990s or early years of the 21st century in countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Sweden. It has also been well used in other Spanish speaking countries such as Mexico, where it was among the 100 most popular names for Mexican girls in 2020 and 2021.[6]
People
edit- Miranda Ayim (born 1988), Canadian basketball player
- Miranda Barbour (born 1994), American murderer
- Miranda Bennett (born 1979), Australian rower
- Miranda Bergman (born 1947), American muralist
- Miranda Bonansea (1926–2019), Italian actress and voice artist
- Miranda Boonstra (born 1972), Dutch long distance runner
- Miranda Brawn, English businesswoman, lawyer, and philanthropist
- Miranda Campa (1914–1989), Swiss–born Italian actress and voice artist
- Miranda Carter (born 1965), English biographer and writer
- Miranda Cheng (born 1979), Taiwanese mathematician and theoretical physicist
- Miranda Cicognani (born 1936), Italian gymnast
- Miranda Connell (born 1938), English actress
- Miranda Cooper (born 1975), English pop singer
- Miranda Cosgrove (born 1993), American actress and singer
- Miranda Dear, British-born Australian film and TV producer
- Miranda Devine (born 1961), Australian columnist and writer
- Miranda Dodson (born 1980), American musician, singer, and songwriter
- Miranda Downes (1950–1985), Australian screenwriter
- Miranda Du (born 1969), Vietnamese–born American judge and lawyer
- Miranda Easten, New Zealand country singer and songwriter
- Miranda Fenner (1979–1998), American murder victim
- Miranda Fricker (born 1966), British philosophy professor
- Miranda Garrison, American actress, choreographer, and dancer
- Miranda Giambelli (born 1992), Australian judoka
- Miranda Gibson, Australian environmental activist and school teacher
- Miranda Granger (born 1992), American mixed martial artist
- Miranda Grell (born 1978), English politician
- Miranda Grosvenor (1941–2016), American social worker
- Miranda Harcourt (born 1962), New Zealand actress
- Miranda Hart (born 1972), English actress and comedian
- Miranda Hill (1836–1910), English social reformer
- Miranda Horner, American game designer
- Miranda July (born 1974), American actress, author, and filmmaker
- Miranda Kaufmann (born 1982), English educator, historian, and journalist
- Miranda Kennedy, American journalist
- Miranda Kerr (born 1983) Australian model
- Miranda Krestovnikoff (born 1973), English radio and television presenter
- Miranda Kwok, Canadian actress, producer, and screenwriter
- Miranda Lambert (born 1983), American country singer and songwriter
- Miranda Lee (1945–2021), Australian author
- Miranda Leek (born 1993), American archer
- Miranda Lowe, British museum curator
- Miranda Macmillan (1947–2020), English socialite and fashion model
- Miranda Maverick (born 1997), American mixed martial artist
- Miranda Martino (born 1933), Italian actress and singer
- Miranda Meeks, American illustrator
- Miranda Melville (born 1989), American race walker
- Miranda Merron (born 1969), British sailor
- Miranda Mikadze (born 1989), Georgian chess player
- Miranda Mulholland, Canadian fiddler and singer
- Miranda Myrat (1906–1994), Greek actress
- Miranda Nild (born 1997), Thai footballer
- Miranda Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- Miranda Otto (born 1967), Australian actress
- Miranda Raison (born 1977), English actress
- Miranda Lee Richards (born 1975), American singer and songwriter
- Miranda Richardson (born 1958), English actress
- Miranda Sawyer (born 1967), English author, broadcaster, and journalist
- Miranda Seymour (born 1948), English biographer, literary critic, and novelist
- Miranda Stone, Canadian singer and songwriter
- Miranda Sykes (born 1978), English folk singer
- Miranda Tapsell (born 1987), Larrakia Aboriginal Australian actress
- Miranda Tatari (born 1983), Croatian handball player
- Miranda Teboh-Ewungkem (born 1974), Cameroonian-American applied mathematician
- Miranda Vidak, Croatian fashion designer and model
- Miranda Vuolasranta (born 1959), Finnish activist
- Miranda Wang (born 1994), American tech entrepreneur
- Miranda Weese, American ballet dancer
- Miranda Wilson (born 1960), American actress
Fictional characters
edit- Miranda (The Tempest), in the play The Tempest by English writer William Shakespeare
- Miranda, one of the characters from the Diva Starz toy line
- Miranda, the titular character of Miranda
- Miranda, the schoolgirl who goes missing in Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
- Miranda (Doctor Who), in the British novel series Eighth Doctor Adventures
- Miranda (W.I.T.C.H.), in the American television series W.I.T.C.H.
- Miranda Bailey, Chief of Surgery and attending general surgeon at Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital in the American television series Grey's Anatomy
- Miranda Barlow, from the Starz series Black Sails
- Miranda Carroll, from 2014 fiction novel Station Eleven by Canadian author Emily St. John Mandel
- Miranda Corneille, in the Canadian webcomic User Friendly
- Miranda Evans, in the British soap opera Doctors
- Miranda Feigelsteen, in the Canadian television series Mysterious Ways
- Miranda Goshawk, in the Harry Potter novel series by English author J. K. Rowling
- Miranda Grey, in the novel The Collector by English author John Fowles
- Miranda Hillard, the ex-wife of the main protagonist in the 1993 movie Mrs. Doubtfire
- Miranda Hobbes, in the American television series Sex and the City
- Miranda Jeffries, in the American film Chances Are
- Miranda Jones, in the anime series Transformers: Energon
- Miranda Jones, from Star Trek The Original Series, Episode Is There No Truth in Beauty?
- Miranda Keyes, in the American video game series Halo
- Miranda Killgallen, in the American television series As Told By Ginger
- Miranda Lawson, in the Mass Effect series
- Miranda Lotto, in the manga D.Gray-Man and the anime of the same name
- Miranda Montgomery, in the American television series All My Children
- Miranda Navas, a main character from Wonder, book written by R.J. Palacio
- Miranda North, in the film Life
- Miranda Priestly, in the novel The Devil Wears Prada by American author Lauren Weisberger
- Miranda Sanchez, in the American television series Lizzie McGuire
- Miranda Sings, character created on YouTube by Colleen Ballinger
- Miranda Tate, played by Marion Cotillard in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises
- Miranda Wright, in the American television series Bonkers
- Miranda Kristofich, character in the video game The Callisto Protocol
References
edit- ^ The Surnames of the Maltese Islands- An Etymological Dictionary, Mario Cassar, Book Distributors Ltd, 2003, p. 393
- ^ Hispanic Surnames and Family History, Lyman D. Platt, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2008, pp. 133, 344
- ^ Book of Jewish and Crypto-Jewish Surnames, Judith K. Jarvis, Susan L. Levin, Donald N. Yates, CreateSpace, 2018, pp. 17, 49, 64
- ^ Spanish Surnames, a List- Attachments J1 and J2, General Coding Procedures Manual, 1970 Census, United States Census Bureau, 1971, pp. 16, 25
- ^ Evans, Cleveland Kent (3 July 2022). "Cleveland Evans: 'Admired' Miranda Poplarity Flows with the Tides". omaha.com. Omaha World Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ "Popularity for the name Miranda - Behind the Name".
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