Meri
Meri was given to 9 girls in 2025, #10,628 among girls’ names; 2,502 Americans have been recorded with it since 1917 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,120 Americans named Meri and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 59 years old and half are between 42 and 67.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Meri by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Meri mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Meri is “a diminutive of the female given name Merida.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Meri?
#10,628 among girls’ names, 2025
Meri rose from #12,623 in 2015 to #10,628 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 4.5 to 5.6 per million.
89 babies in 1961, the peak
Meri peaked in 1961, when 89 girls were given it, #1,171 among girls’ names. The 9 births of 2025 are 10% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | #10,628 | 5.6 |
| 2024 | 13 | #8,275 | 8.0 |
| 2023 | 13 | #8,338 | 8.1 |
| 2022 | 7 | #13,126 | 4.3 |
| 2021 | 14 | #7,887 | 8.5 |
| 2020 | 8 | #11,782 | 4.9 |
| 2019 | 10 | #10,232 | 6.0 |
| 2018 | 11 | #9,602 | 6.5 |
| 2017 | 5 | #17,576 | 2.9 |
| 2016 | 13 | #8,711 | 7.3 |
Every recorded year (93)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 8 | #12,623 | 4.5 |
| 2014 | 8 | #12,701 | 4.5 |
| 2013 | 7 | #14,143 | 4.0 |
| 2012 | 16 | #7,685 | 9.1 |
| 2011 | 8 | #12,973 | 4.5 |
| 2010 | 5 | #18,918 | 2.8 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,708 | 3.8 |
| 2008 | 7 | #14,870 | 3.7 |
| 2007 | 14 | #8,852 | 7.3 |
| 2006 | 10 | #11,158 | 5.3 |
| 2005 | 14 | #8,194 | 7.6 |
| 2004 | 15 | #7,693 | 8.2 |
| 2003 | 11 | #9,482 | 6.0 |
| 2002 | 17 | #6,585 | 9.5 |
| 2001 | 14 | #7,595 | 7.8 |
| 2000 | 24 | #4,918 | 13.2 |
| 1999 | 10 | #9,247 | 5.6 |
| 1998 | 16 | #6,268 | 9.1 |
| 1997 | 14 | #6,702 | 8.0 |
| 1996 | 8 | #10,201 | 4.6 |
| 1995 | 24 | #4,302 | 13.6 |
| 1994 | 12 | #7,429 | 6.7 |
| 1993 | 11 | #7,866 | 6.1 |
| 1992 | 20 | #4,971 | 10.8 |
| 1991 | 26 | #4,007 | 13.9 |
| 1990 | 16 | #5,733 | 8.4 |
| 1989 | 15 | #5,732 | 8.1 |
| 1988 | 14 | #5,792 | 7.9 |
| 1987 | 11 | #6,612 | 6.3 |
| 1986 | 18 | #4,469 | 10.5 |
| 1985 | 16 | #4,783 | 9.3 |
| 1984 | 22 | #3,679 | 13.1 |
| 1983 | 20 | #3,901 | 12.0 |
| 1982 | 20 | #3,972 | 11.8 |
| 1981 | 27 | #3,208 | 16.2 |
| 1980 | 17 | #4,444 | 10.2 |
| 1979 | 32 | #2,773 | 19.9 |
| 1978 | 23 | #3,346 | 15.0 |
| 1977 | 28 | #2,885 | 18.3 |
| 1976 | 36 | #2,324 | 24.6 |
| 1975 | 33 | #2,442 | 22.6 |
| 1974 | 36 | #2,239 | 24.5 |
| 1973 | 47 | #1,818 | 32.2 |
| 1972 | 40 | #2,012 | 26.3 |
| 1971 | 44 | #1,954 | 26.4 |
| 1970 | 60 | #1,591 | 34.3 |
| 1969 | 45 | #1,863 | 26.7 |
| 1968 | 44 | #1,800 | 26.8 |
| 1967 | 59 | #1,451 | 35.7 |
| 1966 | 51 | #1,582 | 30.1 |
| 1965 | 62 | #1,401 | 35.1 |
| 1964 | 63 | #1,431 | 33.2 |
| 1963 | 77 | #1,258 | 39.9 |
| 1962 | 76 | #1,271 | 38.6 |
| 1961 | 89 | #1,171 | 44.1 |
| 1960 | 78 | #1,243 | 38.6 |
| 1959 | 74 | #1,252 | 36.6 |
| 1958 | 43 | #1,644 | 21.4 |
| 1957 | 51 | #1,502 | 24.9 |
| 1956 | 59 | #1,357 | 29.4 |
| 1955 | 74 | #1,160 | 37.8 |
| 1954 | 56 | #1,338 | 28.8 |
| 1953 | 62 | #1,235 | 33.0 |
| 1952 | 42 | #1,497 | 22.6 |
| 1951 | 38 | #1,546 | 21.1 |
| 1950 | 44 | #1,389 | 25.7 |
| 1949 | 46 | #1,363 | 26.9 |
| 1948 | 38 | #1,510 | 22.4 |
| 1947 | 42 | #1,451 | 23.7 |
| 1946 | 48 | #1,251 | 30.5 |
| 1945 | 31 | #1,471 | 23.7 |
| 1944 | 20 | #1,949 | 15.1 |
| 1943 | 22 | #1,879 | 15.8 |
| 1942 | 9 | #3,352 | 6.7 |
| 1941 | 9 | #3,170 | 7.4 |
| 1937 | 5 | #4,707 | 4.7 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,760 | 4.8 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,870 | 4.7 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,308 | 5.6 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,782 | 5.0 |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,267 | 5.8 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,621 | 5.3 |
| 1917 | 5 | #5,058 | 4.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Meri a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Meri has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 93 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Meri: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Meri, and how old are they?
2,120 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 85% of the 2,502 Americans ever recorded as Meri. The median Meri alive today is 59 years old; half are between 42 and 67.
The 2020 Census counted 3,023 people named Meri (3,001 women and girls, 22 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,167 born in the U.S. The Census count is 40% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 52 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 869 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 606 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 272 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 200 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 125 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Meri born?
The states with the most babies named Meri are California, New York and Michigan, with 67% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 143 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 128 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 50 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 46 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Texas | 42 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Wisconsin | 15 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Washington | 14 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 13 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Ohio | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Georgia | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Meri with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 27,395 babies since 1880, Meri is the fifth most given (9.1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 9 of their 420 babies (2.1%), the sixth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Meri
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Meri and names like it
- Compare Meri and MerryBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sMeri peaked in 1961.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Meri since 1910.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Meri.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Meri alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.