Merlene
Merlene was last recorded in 1984, when 5 babies were given it; 2,379 Americans have been recorded with it between 1913 and 1984 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,070 Americans named Merlene and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (45% of everyone recorded); the median is 76 years old and half are between 68 and 83.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Merlene by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Merlene?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #11,528, in 1984; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
93 babies in 1940, the peak
Merlene peaked in 1940, when 93 girls were given it, #723 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 5 | #11,528 | 3.0 |
| 1982 | 6 | #10,000 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,291 | 3.9 |
| 1977 | 7 | #8,088 | 4.6 |
| 1974 | 6 | #8,337 | 4.1 |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,449 | 5.5 |
| 1972 | 7 | #7,015 | 4.6 |
| 1971 | 7 | #7,088 | 4.2 |
| 1970 | 12 | #4,672 | 6.9 |
| 1969 | 13 | #4,097 | 7.7 |
Every recorded year (66)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 5 | #7,777 | 3.0 |
| 1967 | 14 | #3,594 | 8.5 |
| 1966 | 19 | #2,907 | 11.2 |
| 1965 | 19 | #2,891 | 10.8 |
| 1964 | 15 | #3,465 | 7.9 |
| 1963 | 19 | #2,929 | 9.9 |
| 1962 | 22 | #2,641 | 11.2 |
| 1961 | 25 | #2,449 | 12.4 |
| 1960 | 30 | #2,132 | 14.8 |
| 1959 | 40 | #1,750 | 19.8 |
| 1958 | 40 | #1,718 | 19.9 |
| 1957 | 36 | #1,829 | 17.6 |
| 1956 | 37 | #1,752 | 18.4 |
| 1955 | 49 | #1,455 | 25.1 |
| 1954 | 41 | #1,596 | 21.1 |
| 1953 | 48 | #1,419 | 25.5 |
| 1952 | 44 | #1,465 | 23.7 |
| 1951 | 48 | #1,352 | 26.7 |
| 1950 | 49 | #1,312 | 28.6 |
| 1949 | 47 | #1,348 | 27.5 |
| 1948 | 56 | #1,216 | 33.0 |
| 1947 | 49 | #1,306 | 27.6 |
| 1946 | 75 | #966 | 47.7 |
| 1945 | 57 | #1,027 | 43.6 |
| 1944 | 66 | #959 | 49.7 |
| 1943 | 62 | #1,012 | 44.4 |
| 1942 | 70 | #941 | 51.8 |
| 1941 | 57 | #973 | 47.2 |
| 1940 | 93 | #723 | 81.3 |
| 1939 | 63 | #886 | 57.4 |
| 1938 | 83 | #770 | 75.2 |
| 1937 | 81 | #760 | 76.1 |
| 1936 | 74 | #790 | 71.1 |
| 1935 | 79 | #763 | 75.3 |
| 1934 | 68 | #825 | 65.1 |
| 1933 | 69 | #804 | 68.5 |
| 1932 | 62 | #897 | 58.1 |
| 1931 | 66 | #853 | 62.0 |
| 1930 | 42 | #1,156 | 37.3 |
| 1929 | 56 | #966 | 50.2 |
| 1928 | 54 | #1,023 | 46.8 |
| 1927 | 29 | #1,544 | 24.3 |
| 1926 | 30 | #1,502 | 25.3 |
| 1925 | 25 | #1,731 | 20.5 |
| 1924 | 37 | #1,345 | 29.6 |
| 1923 | 24 | #1,761 | 19.9 |
| 1922 | 18 | #2,162 | 15.0 |
| 1921 | 19 | #2,093 | 15.4 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,434 | 12.5 |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,727 | 20.4 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,343 | 13.0 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,975 | 6.5 |
| 1916 | 12 | #2,606 | 11.5 |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,674 | 7.1 |
| 1914 | 7 | #3,077 | 9.2 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,530 | 8.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Merlene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Merlene has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 66 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Merlene: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Merlene, and how old are they?
1,070 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 45% of the 2,379 Americans ever recorded as Merlene. The median Merlene alive today is 76 years old; half are between 68 and 83.
The 2020 Census counted 1,883 people named Merlene (1,873 women and girls, 10 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,366 born in the U.S. The Census count is 38% 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 | 365 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 578 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 112 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 11 |
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 Merlene born?
The states with the most babies named Merlene are Texas, California and Louisiana, with 64% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 217 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| California | 82 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Louisiana | 42 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Alabama | 37 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Utah | 34 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Oklahoma | 32 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Arkansas | 23 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Mississippi | 17 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Georgia | 7 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Merlene is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Merlene is most over-represented in Texas: since 1913 it was given 1.6 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 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 Merlene 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 3,641 babies since 1880, Merlene is the most given (65% 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 Merlene
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 Merlene and names like it
- Compare Merlene and MerlineBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sMerlene peaked in 1940.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Merlene since 1910.
- The top names of 1940The year the most babies were named Merlene.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Merlene alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.