Merle
Small blackbird or falcon; feminine diminutive of French Marie, meaning "bitter".
Name Census estimates that about 12,101 living Americans carry the first name Merle. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 67.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Merle today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merle births was 1921 (1,275 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merle. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Merle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Merle is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Merles were born before 1966.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Merle have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 28,324 Americans
Peak year
1921
1,275 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,640
Tracked since 1880
Census
Merle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,759 people with the first name Merle, which placed it at #1,847 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
#1,847
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
15,759 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merle is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.9%). 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 Merle 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 Merle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.4% · 12,985
- Black or African American7.6% · 1,194
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 618
- Two or more races2.2% · 353
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 324
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 285
Gender
Gender distribution for Merle
Merle is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 45,348 total registrations, 30,630 (67.5%) were male and 14,718 (32.5%) were female.
Merle as a male name
- Ranked #4,640 in 2024
- 22 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1925 (836 births)
Merle as a female name
- Ranked #17,896 in 2004
- 5 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1921 (442 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merle on both sides of the split. Of the 15,757 people counted with this name, 9,991 were male (63.4%) and 5,766 were female (36.6%).
Popularity
Merle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merle from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 11,573 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
Merle 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 Merle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa recorded the most babies named Merle, while New Hampshire, District of Columbia, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 768 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merle
The name Merle has its origins in the Old French language, stemming from the word "merle," which means "blackbird." The name's earliest roots can be traced back to the medieval period in France, where it was likely used as a nickname or a descriptive name for someone with dark hair or a dark complexion, resembling the plumage of a blackbird.
While the name's precise origins are uncertain, it gained popularity across various regions of Europe during the Middle Ages. In some instances, the name Merle was also derived from the Old English word "mere," meaning "lake" or "pool," suggesting a connection to natural bodies of water.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Merle can be found in the 12th century French epic poem, "The Song of Roland." In this literary work, Merle appears as the name of a character, although it is unclear whether it was used as a first name or a surname.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Merle. One of the most famous was Merle Oberon (1911-1979), a British actress known for her roles in films such as "The Cowboy and the Lady" and "Wuthering Heights." Another prominent figure was Merle Haggard (1937-2016), an American country music singer and songwriter renowned for hits like "Okie from Muskogee" and "Mama Tried."
In the realm of literature, Merle Miller (1919-1986) was an American biographer and journalist who wrote acclaimed biographies of figures like Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson. Merle Curti (1897-1996), an American historian and educator, was renowned for his contributions to the study of intellectual history and the history of Wisconsin.
Merle Norman (1888-1972) was an American businesswoman and entrepreneur who founded the cosmetics company bearing her name, which became a successful chain of stores across the United States.
While the name Merle has maintained a presence throughout history, its popularity has waxed and waned over time. Nevertheless, its unique and distinctive quality has ensured its enduring appeal, making it a name with a rich cultural and linguistic heritage.
People
Merle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merle 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
Merle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merle 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 28,324 US residents.
Is Merle a common name?
We classify Merle as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 45,348 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merle most popular?
The single biggest year for Merle was 1921, when 1,275 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merle is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,759 people with the name Merle, or 5.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,847 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 Merle 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 Merle?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merle on both sides of the split. Of the 15,757 people counted with this name, 9,991 were male (63.4%) and 5,766 were female (36.6%). 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 Merle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merle is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.9%). 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 Merle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.4% (12,985 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 Merle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merle a male name?
Yes, 67.5% of people registered as Merle 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 Merle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merle 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 Merle 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 Merle?
Want to know how many people share the name Merle? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.