Merlyn
Merlyn is given to both girls and boys: 7 girls and 6 boys were given it in 2025 (#12,736 among girls’ names and #11,530 among boys’, #14,047 among all names counting both); 5,045 Americans have been recorded with it since 1908 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,730 Americans named Merlyn and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (34% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 29 and 81.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Merlyn by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Merlyn?
#11,530 among boys’ names, 2025
Merlyn entered the boys’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #11,530 in 2025.
159 babies in 1930, the peak
Merlyn peaked in 1930, when 159 babies were given it (137 boys, #510 among boys’ names). The 13 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 8% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,736 | 6 | #11,530 |
| 2024 | 5 | #16,880 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 12 | #8,803 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 11 | #9,447 | 7 | #10,490 |
| 2021 | 10 | #10,065 | 6 | #11,670 |
| 2020 | 12 | #8,767 | 5 | #13,389 |
| 2019 | 10 | #10,235 | 6 | #11,664 |
| 2018 | 9 | #11,152 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 9 | #11,313 | 6 | #11,704 |
| 2016 | 8 | #12,506 | 6 | #11,660 |
Every recorded year (113)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 12 | #9,320 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 9 | #11,631 | 5 | #13,375 |
| 2013 | 5 | #18,373 | 6 | #11,685 |
| 2012 | 8 | #13,038 | 5 | #13,548 |
| 2011 | 15 | #8,067 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 15 | #8,166 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 16 | #7,946 | 8 | #9,577 |
| 2008 | 23 | #6,074 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 18 | #7,304 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | 15 | #8,113 | under 5 | |
| 2005 | 16 | #7,377 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 16 | #7,279 | 7 | #9,601 |
| 2003 | 19 | #6,227 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 10 | #9,996 | under 5 | |
| 2001 | 10 | #9,848 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 13 | #7,873 | 10 | #6,664 |
| 1999 | 10 | #9,248 | 9 | #6,907 |
| 1998 | 17 | #5,979 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 14 | #6,703 | 5 | #10,260 |
| 1996 | 6 | #12,890 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 12 | #7,363 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 14 | #6,535 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 14 | #6,490 | 6 | #8,324 |
| 1992 | 12 | #7,346 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 7 | #11,053 | 7 | #7,015 |
| 1990 | 7 | #10,961 | 5 | #9,031 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,490 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 13 | #6,137 | 5 | #8,094 |
| 1987 | 5 | #12,532 | 6 | #6,660 |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,397 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 8 | #8,035 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 9 | #7,188 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 8 | #7,872 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 12 | #3,546 | |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,731 | 8 | #4,688 |
| 1978 | under 5 | 6 | #5,536 | |
| 1977 | 5 | #10,652 | 5 | #6,500 |
| 1976 | 5 | #10,285 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 6 | #5,225 | |
| 1974 | under 5 | 8 | #4,060 | |
| 1973 | 6 | #8,055 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 5 | #9,142 | 7 | #4,229 |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,652 | 8 | #3,724 |
| 1969 | under 5 | 12 | #2,637 | |
| 1968 | 7 | #6,029 | 11 | #2,682 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,489 | 6 | #3,832 |
| 1966 | 5 | #7,265 | 10 | #2,733 |
| 1965 | 8 | #5,144 | 7 | #3,448 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,452 | 15 | #2,169 |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,157 | 16 | #2,090 |
| 1962 | 10 | #4,444 | 18 | #1,937 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,668 | 17 | #2,047 |
| 1960 | 11 | #4,085 | 16 | #2,093 |
| 1959 | 11 | #3,961 | 24 | #1,650 |
| 1958 | 11 | #3,865 | 20 | #1,819 |
| 1957 | 17 | #2,896 | 23 | #1,703 |
| 1956 | 9 | #4,363 | 16 | #2,063 |
| 1955 | 17 | #2,798 | 28 | #1,475 |
| 1954 | 17 | #2,762 | 32 | #1,353 |
| 1953 | 14 | #3,048 | 32 | #1,348 |
| 1952 | 13 | #3,140 | 40 | #1,178 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,771 | 44 | #1,090 |
| 1950 | 15 | #2,739 | 42 | #1,098 |
| 1949 | 22 | #2,112 | 37 | #1,175 |
| 1948 | 21 | #2,165 | 48 | #1,016 |
| 1947 | 23 | #2,073 | 38 | #1,183 |
| 1946 | 17 | #2,370 | 46 | #1,008 |
| 1945 | 23 | #1,780 | 57 | #835 |
| 1944 | 27 | #1,593 | 57 | #838 |
| 1943 | 25 | #1,740 | 70 | #784 |
| 1942 | 27 | #1,616 | 75 | #744 |
| 1941 | 25 | #1,594 | 80 | #688 |
| 1940 | 25 | #1,574 | 89 | #634 |
| 1939 | 29 | #1,394 | 81 | #662 |
| 1938 | 23 | #1,629 | 110 | #558 |
| 1937 | 29 | #1,380 | 103 | #569 |
| 1936 | 38 | #1,160 | 103 | #569 |
| 1935 | 36 | #1,193 | 105 | #564 |
| 1934 | 33 | #1,252 | 114 | #553 |
| 1933 | 33 | #1,256 | 105 | #561 |
| 1932 | 28 | #1,444 | 109 | #569 |
| 1931 | 26 | #1,486 | 128 | #509 |
| 1930 | 22 | #1,736 | 137 | #510 |
| 1929 | 25 | #1,585 | 93 | #637 |
| 1928 | 35 | #1,304 | 97 | #626 |
| 1927 | 40 | #1,250 | 114 | #580 |
| 1926 | 31 | #1,473 | 87 | #682 |
| 1925 | 41 | #1,219 | 79 | #735 |
| 1924 | 25 | #1,750 | 73 | #791 |
| 1923 | 36 | #1,320 | 74 | #766 |
| 1922 | 21 | #1,942 | 72 | #793 |
| 1921 | 25 | #1,755 | 57 | #934 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,435 | 66 | #832 |
| 1919 | 10 | #3,148 | 51 | #946 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,466 | 53 | #914 |
| 1917 | 10 | #3,005 | 54 | #868 |
| 1916 | 15 | #2,200 | 32 | #1,169 |
| 1915 | 14 | #2,212 | 39 | #1,031 |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,562 | 20 | #1,377 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,716 | 17 | #1,298 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,288 | 15 | #1,251 |
| 1911 | under 5 | 5 | #1,919 | |
| 1908 | under 5 | 5 | #1,530 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Merlyn a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 5,045 Americans recorded as Merlyn, 32% are girls and 68% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Merlyn: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Merlyn, and how old are they?
1,730 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 34% of the 5,045 Americans ever recorded as Merlyn. The median Merlyn alive today is 67 years old; half are between 29 and 81.
The 2020 Census counted 3,737 people named Merlyn (2,364 women and girls, 1,373 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,123 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.8 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 432 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 542 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 146 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 154 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 276 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 171 |
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 Merlyn born?
The states with the most babies named Merlyn are Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, with 62% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Iowa and Minnesota and Wisconsin are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa | 552 | not ranked | 5.8× |
| Minnesota | 382 | not ranked | 3.5× |
| Wisconsin | 218 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| South Dakota | 174 | not ranked | 6.1× |
| Nebraska | 158 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| California | 95 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 62 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Michigan | 49 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| North Dakota | 48 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Kansas | 47 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Merlyn is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Merlyn is most over-represented in South Dakota: since 1910 it was given 6.1 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 Merlyn 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 21,259 babies since 1880, Merlyn is the second most given (24% of them). In 2025 it was given to 13 of their 86 babies (15%), again the second most given.
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 Merlyn
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 Merlyn and names like it
- Compare Merlyn and MerlinBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sMerlyn peaked in 1930.
- Iowa’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Merlyn since 1910.
- The top names of 1930The year the most babies were named Merlyn.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Merlyn alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.