Myrtle appears 63 times at rank 1632 on female pets. It's a botanical name — the myrtle plant, associated with love and immortality in classical symbolism — that had its peak in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and is now exactly vintage enough to feel distinctive again.
The Botanical-Vintage Crossover
Myrtle belongs with Hazel, Ivy, and Flora in the botanical-name renaissance that's been building in both human and pet naming circles. The plant itself has Mediterranean origins and appears in ancient Greek and Roman symbolism as a sacred plant of Aphrodite. On a cat especially, the mythological dimension layers nicely under what sounds like a very British old lady's name.
Sound and Breed Fit
MUR-tul is two syllables with an unusual combination of sounds that makes it genuinely distinctive. It's not the easiest name to call quickly, but it rewards the effort with character. Cats are the primary recipients — particularly tortoiseshells and older-looking cats with dignified bearing. For dogs, English Bulldogs carry the vintage British register well. The human-name trajectory is at /names/myrtle.
The Counter-Reading
Myrtle is still in the zone where some people hear it as dated rather than charming. That gap is narrowing — the name is on the same vintage-revival trajectory as Mabel and Ethel. Owners who choose it now are ahead of the curve rather than behind it.