Merry
Merry was given to 9 girls in 2025, #10,630 among girls’ names; 10,369 Americans have been recorded with it since 1898 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,250 Americans named Merry and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (70% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 56 and 75.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Merry by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Merry mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Merry is “a female given name from merry.”
Also “a diminutive of the female given name Mercy.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Merry?
#10,630 among girls’ names, 2025
Merry fell from #5,604 in 2015 to #10,630 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 13.4 to 5.6 per million.
355 babies in 1954, the peak
Merry peaked in 1954, when 355 girls were given it, #471 among girls’ names. The 9 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | #10,630 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 16 | #7,142 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 10 | #10,091 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 16 | #7,182 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 17 | #6,878 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 17 | #6,822 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 17 | #6,934 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,424 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 14 | #8,140 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 32 | #4,493 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (122)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 24 | #5,604 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 22 | #5,919 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 23 | #5,773 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 18 | #7,060 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 15 | #8,068 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 22 | #6,108 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 18 | #7,248 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 23 | #6,075 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 14 | #8,854 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 20 | #6,523 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 22 | #5,718 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 30 | #4,572 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 19 | #6,228 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 17 | #6,587 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 13 | #8,038 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 24 | #4,919 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 27 | #4,260 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 21 | #5,067 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 20 | #5,149 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 32 | #3,542 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 31 | #3,550 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 42 | #2,860 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 22 | #4,608 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 22 | #4,625 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 42 | #2,817 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 34 | #3,264 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 32 | #3,295 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 34 | #3,010 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 44 | #2,380 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 28 | #3,240 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 52 | #2,062 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 42 | #2,326 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 60 | #1,786 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 47 | #2,174 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 52 | #2,021 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 45 | #2,235 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 53 | #1,966 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 62 | #1,699 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 48 | #2,016 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 47 | #1,925 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 59 | #1,649 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 73 | #1,408 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 61 | #1,536 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 69 | #1,429 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 101 | #1,156 | 0.06 |
| 1970 | 125 | #1,005 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 127 | #949 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 99 | #1,064 | 0.06 |
| 1967 | 144 | #845 | 0.09 |
| 1966 | 112 | #964 | 0.07 |
| 1965 | 163 | #778 | 0.09 |
| 1964 | 221 | #693 | 0.12 |
| 1963 | 207 | #709 | 0.11 |
| 1962 | 218 | #699 | 0.11 |
| 1961 | 268 | #626 | 0.13 |
| 1960 | 274 | #603 | 0.14 |
| 1959 | 284 | #589 | 0.14 |
| 1958 | 240 | #635 | 0.12 |
| 1957 | 255 | #612 | 0.12 |
| 1956 | 297 | #542 | 0.15 |
| 1955 | 334 | #504 | 0.17 |
| 1954 | 355 | #471 | 0.18 |
| 1953 | 328 | #473 | 0.17 |
| 1952 | 323 | #469 | 0.17 |
| 1951 | 264 | #510 | 0.15 |
| 1950 | 292 | #473 | 0.17 |
| 1949 | 284 | #478 | 0.17 |
| 1948 | 307 | #456 | 0.18 |
| 1947 | 300 | #475 | 0.17 |
| 1946 | 276 | #474 | 0.18 |
| 1945 | 214 | #500 | 0.16 |
| 1944 | 202 | #508 | 0.15 |
| 1943 | 221 | #501 | 0.16 |
| 1942 | 200 | #526 | 0.15 |
| 1941 | 118 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1940 | 124 | #634 | 0.11 |
| 1939 | 103 | #670 | 0.09 |
| 1938 | 96 | #704 | 0.09 |
| 1937 | 88 | #722 | 0.08 |
| 1936 | 55 | #928 | 0.05 |
| 1935 | 65 | #859 | 0.06 |
| 1934 | 67 | #838 | 0.06 |
| 1933 | 53 | #944 | 0.05 |
| 1932 | 52 | #986 | 0.05 |
| 1931 | 42 | #1,100 | 0.04 |
| 1930 | 40 | #1,191 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 34 | #1,300 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 45 | #1,145 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 40 | #1,251 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 44 | #1,162 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 47 | #1,132 | 0.04 |
| 1924 | 48 | #1,135 | 0.04 |
| 1923 | 65 | #911 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 54 | #1,027 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 57 | #998 | 0.05 |
| 1920 | 61 | #936 | 0.05 |
| 1919 | 48 | #1,049 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 29 | #1,483 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 34 | #1,253 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 22 | #1,663 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,854 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 17 | #1,643 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 13 | #1,732 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 16 | #1,400 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 6 | #2,381 | 0.01 |
| 1910 | 6 | #2,320 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,704 | 0.02 |
| 1908 | 6 | #2,027 | 0.02 |
| 1906 | 5 | #2,134 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,138 | 0.02 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,794 | 0.02 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,871 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Merry a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Merry has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 122 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Merry: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Merry, and how old are they?
7,250 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 70% of the 10,369 Americans ever recorded as Merry. The median Merry alive today is 67 years old; half are between 56 and 75.
The 2020 Census counted 8,030 people named Merry (8,010 women and girls, 20 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,926 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 722 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,100 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,280 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 598 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 319 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 235 |
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 Merry born?
The states with the most babies named Merry are California, Illinois and Michigan, with 32% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 852 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 583 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 534 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Texas | 516 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 428 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 356 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 274 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Minnesota | 244 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Wisconsin | 242 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 223 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Merry is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Merry is most over-represented in Michigan: since 1910 it was given 1.2 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 Merry 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 27,395 babies since 1880, Merry is the most given (38% of them). In 2025 it was given to 9 of their 420 babies (2.1%), the fifth most given that year.
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 Merry
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 Merry and names like it
- Compare Merry and MeeraBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sMerry peaked in 1954.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Merry since 1910.
- The top names of 1954The year the most babies were named Merry.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Merry alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.