Merced
Of Spanish origin, meaning "mercy" or "pardon".
Name Census estimates that about 542 living Americans carry the first name Merced. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Merced today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merced births was 1924 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merced. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
542
~ 1 in 632,388 Americans
Peak year
1924
23 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,411
Tracked since 1905
Census
Merced in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,758 people with the first name Merced, which placed it at #8,283 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,283
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,758 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
93.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merced
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merced is Hispanic at 93.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (3.0%) and White (1.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Merced described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Merced at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino93.8% · 1,649
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 52
- White1.9% · 34
- Black or African American0.9% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
- Two or more races0.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Merced
Merced leans heavily male at 80.8% of total registrations, but 181 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Merced as a male name
- Ranked #10,411 in 2021
- 7 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1942 (19 births)
Merced as a female name
- Ranked #18,923 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1924 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merced on both sides of the split. Of the 1,762 people counted with this name, 980 were male (55.6%) and 782 were female (44.4%).
Popularity
Merced: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merced from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 161 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merced by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Merced during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merceds live
Origin
Meaning and history of Merced
The name Merced has its origins in the Spanish language and is derived from the word "merced," which means "mercy" or "grace." The name is closely associated with the Virgin Mary, who is often referred to as "Nuestra Señora de la Merced" (Our Lady of Mercy) in Spanish-speaking Catholic traditions.
In the 13th century, the Mercedarian Order, a Catholic religious order dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded in Barcelona, Spain. The order's primary mission was to ransom Christian captives from Muslim rulers during the Reconquista period in Spain. The name Merced became associated with this order and its devotion to the Virgin Mary's mercy.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Merced can be found in the 16th century, when a Spanish missionary named Fray Juan de Merced accompanied Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Mexico. Fray Juan de Merced played a significant role in the evangelization efforts of the Spanish in the New World.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Merced. One example is Merced de Benavides (1527-1583), a Spanish noblewoman who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Isabella of Portugal. Another is Merced Denton (1887-1964), an American actress and vaudeville performer in the early 20th century.
In the religious realm, Merced Sola (1776-1857) was a Spanish Franciscan nun who founded the Institute of the Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and the Poor. She was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1998. Additionally, Merced de la Purísima Concepción (1866-1937), also known as Madre Merced, was a Mexican Catholic nun and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Another notable figure with the name Merced was Merced Prospera (1904-1992), a Mexican painter and printmaker who was part of the Mexican Muralist Movement. Her works often depicted scenes of everyday life and Mexican culture.
While the name Merced has Spanish roots, it has also been adopted in other cultures and languages, particularly in Latin American countries with strong Spanish influences. The name continues to be popular in various parts of the world, carrying with it the symbolism of mercy and grace associated with the Virgin Mary.
People
Merced + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merced as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Merced: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merced?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 542 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merced going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 632,388 US residents.
Is Merced a common name?
We classify Merced as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 945 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merced most popular?
The single biggest year for Merced was 1924, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merced is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merced in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,758 people with the name Merced, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,283 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Merced in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Merced?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merced on both sides of the split. Of the 1,762 people counted with this name, 980 were male (55.6%) and 782 were female (44.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Merced?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merced is Hispanic at 93.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (3.0%) and White (1.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Merced most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Merced in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.8% (1,649 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Merced in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merced a male name?
Yes, 80.8% of people registered as Merced in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Merced still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merced in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Merced can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Merced?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.