Misty
- Pronunciation
- [Mis-ty]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Misty.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Misty
Misty is a modern English vocabulary name drawn directly from the adjective misty — evoking haze, soft light, and atmospheric romance rather than carrying any ancient etymological history. Its meaning is precisely what it sounds: this is a name coined from the language rather than derived from an older naming tradition, belonging to the mid-twentieth-century American fashion for poetic, nature-adjacent word-names that projected mood and imagery. Its soft consonants and two-syllable lilt made it especially appealing as a feminine given name.
Misty belongs to a distinct cohort of evocative English word-names — along with Crystal, Dawn, and Amber — that surged in popularity during the 1970s and early 1980s, reflecting a naming sensibility that prized naturalness, imagery, and an almost lyrical softness over classical pedigree or family tradition. The name's concentrated moment of fashion was self-contained and generationally specific in a way that gives it a warm, evocative timestamp.
In US Social Security records, Misty first entered the top-1000 in 1973 and climbed to a peak of #40 in 1977, accumulating nearly 58,000 top-1000 births over its charted span. It remained on the chart through 2000, when it registered 242 births at #906, marking a gradual exit from mainstream use. Spelling variants include Mistee, Misti, Mistral, and Mysti.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Misty
US Popularity History (1973–2000)
Annual US births named Misty by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1977 with 6,315 girls named Misty (girl rank #40 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2000, ranked #906 for girls (242 US births). That's 866 places below its 1977 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Variant Forms
Looking for names like Misty?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Misty to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Misty against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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