Meriel
Meriel was last recorded in 2014, when 13 babies were given it; 376 Americans have been recorded with it between 1916 and 2014 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Meriel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Meriel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,798, in 2014; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
15 babies in 1934, the peak
Meriel peaked in 1934, when 15 girls were given it, #2,145 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 13 | #8,798 | 7.3 |
| 2011 | 6 | #16,123 | 3.4 |
| 2010 | 6 | #16,297 | 3.4 |
| 2009 | 10 | #11,219 | 5.4 |
| 2008 | 10 | #11,320 | 5.3 |
| 2006 | 9 | #12,075 | 4.7 |
| 2005 | 9 | #11,519 | 4.9 |
| 2004 | 8 | #12,366 | 4.4 |
| 2002 | 14 | #7,691 | 7.8 |
| 2001 | 13 | #8,036 | 7.2 |
Every recorded year (50)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 9 | #10,442 | 5.0 |
| 1999 | 5 | #16,013 | 2.8 |
| 1998 | 5 | #15,734 | 2.8 |
| 1997 | 8 | #10,452 | 4.6 |
| 1996 | 10 | #8,600 | 5.7 |
| 1995 | 9 | #9,264 | 5.1 |
| 1994 | 5 | #14,914 | 2.8 |
| 1993 | 9 | #9,235 | 5.0 |
| 1992 | 5 | #14,701 | 2.7 |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,576 | 2.7 |
| 1989 | 7 | #10,437 | 3.8 |
| 1988 | 7 | #9,963 | 3.9 |
| 1984 | 10 | #6,599 | 5.9 |
| 1982 | 12 | #5,770 | 7.1 |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,493 | 3.0 |
| 1972 | 5 | #9,115 | 3.3 |
| 1969 | 5 | #8,230 | 3.0 |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,186 | 2.8 |
| 1953 | 7 | #4,885 | 3.7 |
| 1952 | 5 | #6,132 | 2.7 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,264 | 4.4 |
| 1950 | 6 | #5,101 | 3.5 |
| 1949 | 5 | #5,775 | 2.9 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,764 | 2.9 |
| 1946 | 9 | #3,579 | 5.7 |
| 1943 | 7 | #4,074 | 5.0 |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,716 | 4.6 |
| 1937 | 6 | #4,117 | 5.6 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,645 | 6.7 |
| 1934 | 15 | #2,145 | 14.4 |
| 1933 | 6 | #4,063 | 6.0 |
| 1932 | 6 | #4,251 | 5.6 |
| 1929 | 10 | #3,072 | 9.0 |
| 1927 | 5 | #5,361 | 4.2 |
| 1925 | 7 | #4,302 | 5.8 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,310 | 5.6 |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,268 | 5.8 |
| 1919 | 5 | #5,325 | 4.4 |
| 1917 | 5 | #5,060 | 4.6 |
| 1916 | 9 | #3,175 | 8.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Meriel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Meriel has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 50 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Meriel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Meriel, and how old are they?
An estimated 265 Americans named Meriel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (71% of everyone recorded); the median is 30 years old and half are between 22 and 44. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 440 people named Meriel (432 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 285 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 times 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.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 6,649 babies since 1880, Meriel is the second most given (5.7% of them). In 2025 none of their 28 babies recorded by SSA was a Meriel (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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.
More about Meriel and names like it
- Compare Meriel and MerylBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sMeriel peaked in 1934.
- The top names of 1934The year the most babies were named Meriel.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Meriel alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.