Baby Name of the Day: Moira

The baby name Moira blends Irish and Greek roots for a traditional, familiar, but still rare choice.

Thanks to Kyle for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE NAME MOIRA MEAN?

There are three distinct origins for Moira.

First up: Mary, as in the Mother of Jesus. The Latin Maria and French Marie became Máirein Ireland. Mary’s meaning is debated, including bitter, beloved, wished-for child, or even rebellion.

Pronounce it MOY yah, MAW yah, MAW rah, MY rah, or even MAY ree. It seems to have varied over place and time.

The name became Anglicized as Moira, and is usually pronounced phonetically – MOY rah. 

Except that sometimes it was spelled Maura, like Laura. But Maura might also be a feminine form of early saint’s name Maurus. Maurus meant Moorish – from North Africa.

But wait – there’s more. In Ancient Greek mythology, the Three Fates were known as the Moirai. Moira means portion or part, but is also related to the word moros – fate, and links to our word merit. You might argue that Moira implies a proper share, a sense of order in the universe, that one gets what one deserves.

This makes the baby name Moira almost a modern virtue name, a cousin to popular names like Destiny and Journey.

The Three Fates are usually named Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, but not always. Homertreated Moira as a minor deity, the personification of Fate.

One more possible meaning of the name Moira: great, from the Irish word mór.

Between associations with the Virgin Mary and the classical idea of man’s fate, that’s quite a lot of meaning for a two-syllable name.

MIDCENTURY MOIRA

Both spellings entered the US Top 1000 in the middle of the 20th century. 

Maura consistently outranks Moira. But we’re focusing on the latter.

After many years of sparing use, Moira entered the Top 1000 American baby name for girls in 1955.

What explains the name’s brief rise in popularity? 

Credit probably goes to Moira Shearer, a Scottish ballerina whose career began in the early 1940s. In 1948 she starred in The Red Shoes, possibly the best known ballet movie until The Black Swan. Moira’s acting and dancing careers continued into the 1950s. 

In Ireland and Scotland, the baby name Moira had a good run, peaking around the time Ms. Shearer made her big screen debut. In fact, Moira remained in the Top 100 Scottish baby names until 1970.

Besides Ms. Shearer, you might recognize the baby name Moira from:

• Part of Wendy Darling’s full name: Wendy Moira Angela Darling, from Peter Pan. But we know that J.M. Barrie had a streak of inventive namer in him.
• Ava Gardner played Moira in the 1959 post-apocalyptic flick On the Beach, adapted from a Nevil Shute novel.
• Actress Moira Kelly, known for her roles in The Cutting Edge, Chaplin, and The West Wing.
• The cast of the X-Men includes a geneticist – or sometimes a CIA agent – called Dr. Moira MacTaggert.
• A character on The L Word is named Moira Sweeney, but she’s better known as Max.

MOIRA ROSE

And then there’s Moira Rose. 

Quirky Canada comedy Schitt’s Creek debuted in 2015 and ran for six seasons. The wealthy Rose family is scammed out of their fortune and forced to move to the tiny town of Schitt’s Creek, which dad Johnny bought as a joke. They set up residence in the local hotel. While the story could be awful and the family might be unlikable at first, it’s a redemption tale. We’re cheering for them all before long.

Moira Rose is the mom, a fiercely glamorous soap opera actress with the most fascinating, and completely cobbled-together, accent. Her turns of phrase are iconic. 

That said, she’s unlikely baby name inspiration – though the character does make the name broadly familiar.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME MOIRA?

The baby name Moira first appeared in the US Top 1000 in 1955, and hovered on the edge of the rankings until 1968. At that point, the name left, and has remained fairly uncommon ever since. As of 2024, just 105 girls were named Moira.

Maura has been slightly more common, ranking in the Top 1000 from the 1940s through 2006. As of 2024, 111 girls received the name Maura.

VINTAGE CHARM

Irish baby names like Liam and Maeve top the popularity charts. Greek baby names like Chloe and Penelope are style stars, too. But Moira isn’t really either of those things, not exactly. 

Still, with baby girl names like Miriam on the upswing, there’s a chance for Moira to be rediscovered. It’s a vintage choice that’s been in steady, if sparing, use for well over a century. 

So while Moira is quite rare, that could be an opportunity. It’s timeless, richly meaningful, and just antique enough to feel like fresh and surprising. 

What do you think of the baby name Moira?

First published on November 14, 2012, this post was revised on June 22, 2025.