Merna
Merna was last recorded in 2024, when 8 babies were given it; 2,461 Americans have been recorded with it between 1895 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Merna by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Merna mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Merna is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Merna?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #11,795, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
79 babies in 1930, the peak
Merna peaked in 1930, when 79 girls were given it, #799 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 8 | #11,795 | 4.9 |
| 2023 | 7 | #13,013 | 4.4 |
| 2022 | 12 | #8,864 | 7.3 |
| 2021 | 11 | #9,353 | 6.7 |
| 2020 | 14 | #7,826 | 8.7 |
| 2019 | 8 | #12,071 | 4.8 |
| 2018 | 6 | #15,034 | 3.5 |
| 2017 | 14 | #8,139 | 8.1 |
| 2016 | 13 | #8,712 | 7.3 |
| 2015 | 11 | #9,932 | 6.2 |
Every recorded year (103)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 9 | #11,632 | 5.0 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,773 | 4.6 |
| 2012 | 8 | #13,039 | 4.5 |
| 2011 | 10 | #10,920 | 5.7 |
| 2009 | 10 | #11,221 | 5.4 |
| 2008 | 7 | #14,873 | 3.7 |
| 2005 | 10 | #10,660 | 5.4 |
| 2004 | 6 | #15,421 | 3.3 |
| 2003 | 15 | #7,457 | 8.2 |
| 2002 | 14 | #7,693 | 7.8 |
| 2001 | 13 | #8,037 | 7.2 |
| 2000 | 13 | #7,874 | 7.2 |
| 1998 | 8 | #10,779 | 4.5 |
| 1997 | 9 | #9,539 | 5.2 |
| 1995 | 9 | #9,266 | 5.1 |
| 1993 | 5 | #14,948 | 2.8 |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,580 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 7 | #10,962 | 3.7 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,848 | 4.1 |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,389 | 4.8 |
| 1973 | 5 | #9,273 | 3.4 |
| 1971 | 6 | #7,982 | 3.6 |
| 1969 | 6 | #7,160 | 3.6 |
| 1968 | 7 | #6,030 | 4.3 |
| 1967 | 7 | #5,842 | 4.2 |
| 1966 | 8 | #5,133 | 4.7 |
| 1965 | 9 | #4,719 | 5.1 |
| 1964 | 9 | #4,869 | 4.7 |
| 1963 | 10 | #4,444 | 5.2 |
| 1962 | 9 | #4,763 | 4.6 |
| 1961 | 14 | #3,552 | 6.9 |
| 1960 | 21 | #2,698 | 10.4 |
| 1959 | 17 | #2,949 | 8.4 |
| 1958 | 18 | #2,828 | 8.9 |
| 1957 | 24 | #2,327 | 11.7 |
| 1956 | 19 | #2,689 | 9.5 |
| 1955 | 26 | #2,143 | 13.3 |
| 1954 | 20 | #2,493 | 10.3 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,403 | 6.4 |
| 1952 | 28 | #1,916 | 15.1 |
| 1951 | 28 | #1,869 | 15.5 |
| 1950 | 22 | #2,101 | 12.8 |
| 1949 | 23 | #2,044 | 13.4 |
| 1948 | 22 | #2,104 | 13.0 |
| 1947 | 29 | #1,810 | 16.4 |
| 1946 | 29 | #1,666 | 18.5 |
| 1945 | 28 | #1,563 | 21.4 |
| 1944 | 42 | #1,230 | 31.6 |
| 1943 | 31 | #1,513 | 22.2 |
| 1942 | 29 | #1,548 | 21.5 |
| 1941 | 33 | #1,353 | 27.3 |
| 1940 | 51 | #1,006 | 44.6 |
| 1939 | 54 | #972 | 49.2 |
| 1938 | 52 | #987 | 47.1 |
| 1937 | 54 | #947 | 50.8 |
| 1936 | 50 | #976 | 48.1 |
| 1935 | 57 | #922 | 54.4 |
| 1934 | 70 | #808 | 67.0 |
| 1933 | 59 | #885 | 58.5 |
| 1932 | 48 | #1,026 | 45.0 |
| 1931 | 59 | #908 | 55.4 |
| 1930 | 79 | #799 | 70.2 |
| 1929 | 75 | #820 | 67.2 |
| 1928 | 68 | #895 | 59.0 |
| 1927 | 51 | #1,077 | 42.8 |
| 1926 | 53 | #1,030 | 44.7 |
| 1925 | 40 | #1,245 | 32.9 |
| 1924 | 55 | #1,057 | 44.0 |
| 1923 | 51 | #1,074 | 42.3 |
| 1922 | 47 | #1,122 | 39.1 |
| 1921 | 36 | #1,327 | 29.2 |
| 1920 | 49 | #1,070 | 40.9 |
| 1919 | 37 | #1,261 | 32.7 |
| 1918 | 55 | #975 | 47.5 |
| 1917 | 52 | #969 | 48.1 |
| 1916 | 35 | #1,222 | 33.5 |
| 1915 | 36 | #1,149 | 36.6 |
| 1914 | 31 | #1,092 | 40.7 |
| 1913 | 28 | #1,036 | 44.8 |
| 1912 | 22 | #1,138 | 39.4 |
| 1911 | 13 | #1,350 | 31.1 |
| 1910 | 14 | #1,255 | 35.3 |
| 1909 | 14 | #1,136 | 40.3 |
| 1908 | 18 | #960 | 53.8 |
| 1906 | 9 | #1,391 | 30.5 |
| 1904 | 7 | #1,599 | 25.4 |
| 1903 | 13 | #1,011 | 49.6 |
| 1901 | 10 | #1,111 | 41.8 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,682 | 23.4 |
| 1899 | 8 | #1,251 | 34.3 |
| 1898 | 9 | #1,234 | 34.8 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,746 | 21.0 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,747 | 21.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Merna a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Merna has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 103 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Merna: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Merna, and how old are they?
An estimated 854 Americans named Merna and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (35% of everyone recorded); the median is 70 years old and half are between 26 and 82. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,964 people named Merna (1,961 women and girls, 3 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,037 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.9 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.
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 Merna born?
The states with the most babies named Merna are Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois, with 73% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Nebraska and Iowa are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | 204 | not ranked | 8.1× |
| Iowa | 112 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Illinois | 62 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Kansas | 30 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 30 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Michigan | 22 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| California | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Wisconsin | 11 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Indiana | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Louisiana | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Merna is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Merna is most over-represented in Nebraska: since 1910 it was given 8.1 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 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 Merna 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,799 babies since 1880, Merna is the most given (88% 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 Merna
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 Merna and names like it
- Compare Merna and MerinaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sMerna peaked in 1930.
- Nebraska’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Merna since 1910.
- The top names of 1930The year the most babies were named Merna.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Merna alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.