Merla — girls' name

What the Data Says About Merla

The Social Security Administration has registered 424 babies named Merla between 1908 and 1966, spanning 59 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Merla currently falls outside the top 1,000 girls' names for 1966. The name reached its historical peak in 1949, when 16 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Merla performed strongest in the 1940s, accumulating 116 births during that ten-year window. Across the 7 decades of recorded activity, Merla shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Iowa, which accounts for 5 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by . In total, SSA state-level files list Merla in 1 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Merla in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 424 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.