Myrna

An Anglicization of the Irish name Muirne, historically interpreted as affectionate or high-spirited. It arrived in the United States in the late nineteenth century as a rare curiosity. Its fortunes shifted rapidly in the nineteen thirties under the direct influence of cinema star Myrna Loy.

The name lands with the dry authority of someone who remembers when long-distance calls were billed by the minute. It carries the faint clink of glassware from an art deco lounge, followed immediately by decades of practical household management. A Myrna is generally pictured with a spotless address book and very little patience for disorder. The average bearer is firmly in her seventies.