Merrilee
Merrilee was last recorded in 2023, when 5 babies were given it; 1,871 Americans have been recorded with it between 1923 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,380 Americans named Merrilee and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (74% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 57 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Merrilee by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Merrilee mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Merrilee is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Merrilee?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #16,799, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
78 babies in 1942, the peak
Merrilee peaked in 1942, when 78 girls were given it, #883 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 5 | #16,799 | 3.1 |
| 2019 | 5 | #17,197 | 3.0 |
| 2007 | 6 | #16,885 | 3.1 |
| 2002 | 5 | #17,214 | 2.8 |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,017 | 2.9 |
| 1995 | 5 | #14,943 | 2.8 |
| 1994 | 7 | #11,335 | 3.9 |
| 1991 | 7 | #11,054 | 3.7 |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,801 | 3.3 |
| 1987 | 5 | #12,533 | 2.9 |
Every recorded year (66)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 6 | #10,398 | 3.5 |
| 1985 | 7 | #8,929 | 4.1 |
| 1984 | 8 | #7,880 | 4.8 |
| 1983 | 8 | #7,780 | 4.8 |
| 1982 | 18 | #4,276 | 10.6 |
| 1981 | 16 | #4,657 | 9.6 |
| 1980 | 14 | #5,137 | 8.4 |
| 1979 | 8 | #7,763 | 5.0 |
| 1978 | 22 | #3,456 | 14.4 |
| 1977 | 16 | #4,349 | 10.4 |
| 1976 | 10 | #5,869 | 6.8 |
| 1975 | 16 | #4,065 | 11.0 |
| 1974 | 11 | #5,225 | 7.5 |
| 1973 | 17 | #3,742 | 11.7 |
| 1972 | 26 | #2,716 | 17.1 |
| 1971 | 40 | #2,089 | 24.0 |
| 1970 | 37 | #2,186 | 21.2 |
| 1969 | 34 | #2,191 | 20.2 |
| 1968 | 20 | #2,939 | 12.2 |
| 1967 | 21 | #2,754 | 12.7 |
| 1966 | 33 | #2,042 | 19.5 |
| 1965 | 24 | #2,513 | 13.6 |
| 1964 | 26 | #2,450 | 13.7 |
| 1963 | 28 | #2,284 | 14.5 |
| 1962 | 33 | #2,057 | 16.8 |
| 1961 | 41 | #1,798 | 20.3 |
| 1960 | 41 | #1,780 | 20.3 |
| 1959 | 45 | #1,633 | 22.2 |
| 1958 | 65 | #1,314 | 32.3 |
| 1957 | 55 | #1,433 | 26.9 |
| 1956 | 54 | #1,445 | 26.9 |
| 1955 | 64 | #1,266 | 32.7 |
| 1954 | 73 | #1,175 | 37.6 |
| 1953 | 69 | #1,168 | 36.7 |
| 1952 | 64 | #1,189 | 34.5 |
| 1951 | 47 | #1,375 | 26.1 |
| 1950 | 42 | #1,424 | 24.5 |
| 1949 | 76 | #1,028 | 44.4 |
| 1948 | 74 | #1,025 | 43.6 |
| 1947 | 67 | #1,094 | 37.8 |
| 1946 | 63 | #1,075 | 40.1 |
| 1945 | 44 | #1,203 | 33.7 |
| 1944 | 61 | #1,000 | 46.0 |
| 1943 | 71 | #929 | 50.9 |
| 1942 | 78 | #883 | 57.7 |
| 1941 | 18 | #2,001 | 14.9 |
| 1940 | 15 | #2,178 | 13.1 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,695 | 10.0 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,875 | 9.4 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,478 | 11.5 |
| 1935 | 6 | #4,075 | 5.7 |
| 1933 | 8 | #3,312 | 7.9 |
| 1932 | 15 | #2,204 | 14.1 |
| 1928 | 7 | #4,048 | 6.1 |
| 1924 | 13 | #2,766 | 10.4 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,242 | 5.8 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Merrilee a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Merrilee 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 Merrilee: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Merrilee, and how old are they?
1,380 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 74% of the 1,871 Americans ever recorded as Merrilee. The median Merrilee alive today is 69 years old; half are between 57 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 1,598 people named Merrilee (1,598 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,520 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 164 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 780 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 322 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 95 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 11 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 10 |
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 Merrilee born?
The states with the most babies named Merrilee are California, Washington and Illinois, with 62% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Washington is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 195 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Washington | 85 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Illinois | 64 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 55 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 47 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Minnesota | 30 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 25 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Utah | 20 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Wisconsin | 11 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Merrilee is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Merrilee is most over-represented in California: since 1923 it was given 1.3 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 Merrilee 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 4,058 babies since 1880, Merrilee is the most given (46% 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 Merrilee
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1920-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Pauletta | 2,522 | |
| Sharan | 1,248 | |
| Paulette | 47,152 | |
| Michaelene | 1,429 | |
| Susann | 3,097 | |
| Georgeanne | 1,119 |
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 Merrilee and names like it
- Compare Merrilee and MerileeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sMerrilee peaked in 1942.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Merrilee since 1910.
- The top names of 1942The year the most babies were named Merrilee.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Merrilee alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.