Miley’s name has a lot of history! They are certainly original, representative and very personal. Read up for the family history behind her birth name, Destiny Hope, how “Miley” came up and what does her new legal name “Miley Ray” mean. As a little extra we also searched for the name Hannah of Miley’s alter ego superstar character in Hannah Montana. Read on and learn it all in our original section Name Meaning:
Destiny
Female.
Origin: old French
Pronunciation: DES-tih-nee
Meaning: simply “destiny, fate” from the English word, ultimately from Latin destinare “to determine”, a derivative of stare “to stand”. For which you were meant to do. One’s certain fortune.
Mythology: the Greek deity of fate.
Variant: Destanee, Destina, Destine, Destinee, Destiney, Destini, Destinie and Destyni.
Popularity: Destiny ranked very popular on the 1990 U.S. Census, placing at 1074 out of 4275 for females of all ages.
Accoring to Name-stats.com, Destiny ranked #130 on 1992 (the year Miley was born) in the most popular names in the US rank. Their most recent update of name search ranks Destiny as #39 on 2004, having reached its peak on 2001 at #22.
Family Story: Miley’s Dad, Billy Ray, had a dream when Tish was pregnant on how their baby would bring hope to the world, it was her destiny, so they decided to call her Destiny Hope.
Hope
Female.
Origin: old English, “hopian”. Hope was first commonly used by the Puritans.
Pronunciation: hope
Meaning: Expectation; belief; trust.
Mythology: One of three names/qualities (Faith, Hope, Charity) described in the Bible at I Corinthians 13:13; was favored for sisters by Puritans and Catholics. A legendary trio with the names were the daughters of Saint Sophia, whose name means “wisdom.”
Popularity: Hope was ranked very popular on the 1990 U.S. Census, at 427 out of 4275 for females of all ages.
Accoring to Name-stats.com, Hope ranked #310 on 1992 (the year Miley was born) in their most popular names in the US. Their most recent update of name search ranks Destiny as #181 on 2004, having reached its peak on 1999 at #143.
Family Story: Miley’s Dad, Billy Ray, had a dream when Tish was pregnant on how their baby would bring hope to the world, it was her destiny, so they decided to call her Destiny Hope.
Miley
Female.
Origin: Nashville, Tennessee, USA – Nickname by Billy Ray Cyrus to his daughter Destiny Hope Cyrus.
Pronunciation: My-lee
Meaning: smily. Her father nicknamed baby Destiny Hope as Miley because “she is always full of smiles”.
Popularity: it’s unique!
Family Story: Miley smiled so much when she was a baby that her Dad, Billy Ray, started calling her “Smiley”. After a while “smiley” lost the “s” to became “Miley”. Her family nickname became her actual name to the world on her first day of school where all her papers were signed Miley. Later on it became Destinty Hope’s stage name when she was credited as Miley Cyrus on her Disney Channel hit tv series Hannah Montana. On Miley changed her legal name to “Miley Ray Cyrus” on January 2008.
Ray
Boy.
Origin: Germanic / French
Pronunciation: ray
Meaning: In it’s germanic origin, Ray means “advice”, “decision protector”. While its french meaning is similar and adds kingly.
Popularity: Ray is not ranked as a girls name in the USA.
Family Story: Miley changed her legal name Destiny Hope to Miley Ray on January 2008, she chose Ray in honor of her father Billy Ray who had chosen her birth name.
Hannah
Female.
Origin: Hebrew.
Pronunciation: HAN-ah
Meaning: Hannah means grace of God, favored grace, in its Hebrew origin. One of its variants, Hana, means “favourite” or “flower” in Japanese, and “bliss, happiness” in Arabic, while it’s a short form of Johana, of Czech origin. Ann, Anne, Anna, etc. are the European forms; Hanne is popular in Germany.
Mythology: Biblical: mother of the prophet Samuel. Being barren, she asked God to bless her with a child, and her prayer was answered. Hence, the name literally means “God has graced me with a son.”
Variant: Ann, Anna, Anne, Annie, Chana, Chanah, Chanha, Channach, Channah, Hana, Hanah, Hanalee, Hanalise, Hanna, Hanne, Hannele, Hannelore, Hannie, Hanny, Honna, Nan, Nanney, Nannie and Nanny.
Popularity: Hannah was ranked very popular on the 1990 U.S. Census, at 367 out of 4275 for females of all ages. It is also very popular in Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Ireland and Scottland.
Accoring to Name-stats.com, Hannah ranked #26 on 1992 (the year Miley was born) in their most popular names in the US. Their most recent update of name search ranks Destiny as #5 on 2004, having reached its peak through 1998-2000 when it staied at #2. Meanwhile on 2004 it ranked #12 in England and #16 in Ireland.