Merriel
Merriel was last recorded in 1953, when 5 babies were given it; 104 Americans have been recorded with it between 1912 and 1953 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Merriel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Merriel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #5,851, in 1947; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
9 babies in 1922, the peak
Merriel peaked in 1922, when 9 girls were given it, #3,574 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | under 5 | 5 | #4,168 | |
| 1947 | 5 | #5,851 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,285 | under 5 | |
| 1945 | 5 | #5,027 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,998 | under 5 | |
| 1940 | 6 | #4,197 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 5 | #4,714 | under 5 | |
| 1936 | 5 | #4,650 | under 5 | |
| 1932 | 6 | #4,254 | under 5 | |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,768 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (17)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | 7 | #3,924 | under 5 | |
| 1929 | 6 | #4,410 | under 5 | |
| 1927 | 6 | #4,641 | under 5 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 8 | #3,313 | |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,574 | under 5 | |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,271 | under 5 | |
| 1912 | 5 | #3,286 | under 5 |
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 Merriel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 104 Americans recorded as Merriel, 88% are girls and 13% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Merriel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Merriel, and how old are they?
An estimated 25 Americans named Merriel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 146 people named Merriel (103 women and girls, 43 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 38 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.8 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.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 822 babies since 1880, Merriel is the third most given (13% 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 Merriel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1910-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Gean | 1,234 |
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 Merriel and names like it
- Compare Merriel and MerielBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sMerriel peaked in 1922.
- The top names of 1922The year the most babies were named Merriel.
- Names starting with MMost given first.