Merlene — girls' name

What the Data Says About Merlene

The Social Security Administration has registered 2,379 babies named Merlene between 1913 and 1984, spanning 72 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Merlene currently falls outside the top 1,000 girls' names for 1984. The name reached its historical peak in 1940, when 93 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Merlene performed strongest in the 1930s, accumulating 687 births during that ten-year window. Across the 8 decades of recorded activity, Merlene shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Texas, which accounts for 217 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by California and Louisiana. In total, SSA state-level files list Merlene in 15 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Merlene 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 2,379 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.