Merl
Merl was last recorded in 1986, when 5 babies were given it; 2,852 Americans have been recorded with it between 1886 and 1986 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Merl by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Merl?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #7,439, in 1986; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
92 babies in 1922, the peak
Merl peaked in 1922, when 92 babies were given it (83 boys, #720 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 5 | #7,439 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #7,218 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 5 | #6,983 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 8 | #4,444 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 6 | #5,372 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 7 | #4,631 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 10 | #3,485 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,360 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 13 | #2,765 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 7 | #4,228 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (89)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 8 | #3,723 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 14 | #2,374 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 10 | #2,847 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 13 | #2,311 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,793 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 15 | #2,140 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 16 | #2,083 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 24 | #1,645 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 12 | #2,464 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 21 | #1,805 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 14 | #2,277 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 18 | #1,951 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 26 | #1,549 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 22 | #1,740 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 25 | #1,595 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 24 | #1,595 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 16 | #2,019 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 31 | #1,368 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 37 | #1,219 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 32 | #1,322 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 34 | #1,247 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 30 | #1,333 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 42 | #1,100 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 37 | #1,203 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 25 | #1,427 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 29 | #1,240 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 30 | #1,227 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 39 | #1,098 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 37 | #1,134 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 29 | #1,246 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 33 | #1,174 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 27 | #1,293 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 42 | #988 | 0.04 |
| 1937 | 44 | #953 | 0.04 |
| 1936 | 43 | #944 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 31 | #1,219 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 46 | #935 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 33 | #1,154 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 48 | #946 | 0.05 |
| 1931 | 53 | #885 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 44 | #1,044 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 60 | #851 | 0.06 |
| 1928 | 61 | #852 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 65 | #837 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 70 | #781 | 0.06 |
| 1925 | 70 | #791 | 0.06 |
| 1924 | 66 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 70 | #799 | 0.06 |
| 1922 | 83 | #720 | 0.08 |
| 1921 | 74 | #786 | 0.07 |
| 1920 | 74 | #773 | 0.07 |
| 1919 | 82 | #688 | 0.08 |
| 1918 | 79 | #719 | 0.08 |
| 1917 | 69 | #757 | 0.07 |
| 1916 | 74 | #694 | 0.08 |
| 1915 | 57 | #809 | 0.07 |
| 1914 | 52 | #731 | 0.08 |
| 1913 | 38 | #773 | 0.07 |
| 1912 | 31 | #791 | 0.07 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,253 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 12 | #970 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,232 | 0.04 |
| 1908 | 11 | #863 | 0.07 |
| 1907 | 18 | #609 | 0.12 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,076 | 0.05 |
| 1904 | 7 | #1,032 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 7 | #983 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,253 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 7 | #913 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 10 | #690 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,243 | 0.04 |
| 1897 | 8 | #834 | 0.07 |
| 1896 | 9 | #807 | 0.08 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,198 | 0.04 |
| 1893 | 6 | #989 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,036 | 0.05 |
| 1891 | 9 | #681 | 0.09 |
| 1887 | 8 | #721 | 0.08 |
| 1886 | 7 | #814 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Merl a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,852 Americans recorded as Merl, 10% are girls and 90% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Merl: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Merl, and how old are they?
An estimated 586 Americans named Merl and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (21% of everyone recorded); the median is 73 years old and half are between 63 and 80. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 940 people named Merl (135 women and girls, 805 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 782 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Merl rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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 Merl born?
The states with the most babies named Merl are Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with 45% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Indiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana | 100 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 92 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 85 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Oklahoma | 60 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Iowa | 52 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 52 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Missouri | 43 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Kansas | 34 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Nebraska | 16 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Arkansas | 15 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Merl is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Merl is most over-represented in Indiana: since 1910 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ 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 Merl 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 6,141 babies since 1880, Merl is the most given (46% of them).
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 Merl
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 Merl and names like it
- Compare Merl and MearlBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sMerl peaked in 1922.
- Indiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Merl since 1910.
- The top names of 1922The year the most babies were named Merl.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Merl alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.