Merril
An English name derived from 'Myrriell', meaning bright sea or tranquil waters.
Name Census estimates that about 279 living Americans carry the first name Merril. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Merril today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merril births was 1920 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merril. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Merril is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Merrils were born before 1961.
People living today
279
~ 1 in 1,228,510 Americans
Peak year
1920
37 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
2008 SSA rank
#7,490
Tracked since 1910
Census
Merril in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 597 people with the first name Merril, which placed it at #18,138 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
#18,138
National first-name rank
People counted
597
597 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merril
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merril is White at 79.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.2%). 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 Merril 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 Merril at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.6% · 475
- Black or African American9.2% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.2% · 31
- Two or more races2.3% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Merril
Merril leans heavily male at 86.5% of total registrations, but 134 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Merril as a male name
- Ranked #13,913 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1920 (37 births)
Merril as a female name
- Ranked #7,490 in 1967
- 5 female births in 1967
- Peak: 1950 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merril on both sides of the split. Of the 585 people counted with this name, 367 were male (62.7%) and 218 were female (37.3%).
Popularity
Merril: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merril from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 273 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
Merril 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 Merril during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merrils live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Merril, while Wisconsin, Kentucky, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merril
The name Merril is an English given name with origins that can be traced back to the Old French language. It is a variant spelling of the name Meryl, which is derived from the Latin word "merulus," meaning "blackbird." The name was likely introduced to England during the Norman Conquest in the 11th century.
In its earliest recorded uses, the name Merril was often associated with individuals of noble or aristocratic backgrounds. One of the earliest documented instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a detailed survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Here, the name is recorded as belonging to a landowner in the county of Dorset.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Merril maintained its popularity among the upper classes of English society. Several notable figures bore this name during this period, including Sir Merril de Beaumont (c. 1240-1298), a renowned knight and landowner who played a significant role in the Welsh Wars of the 13th century.
As the use of surnames became more widespread in the late Middle Ages, the name Merril also began to appear as a surname. One notable bearer of this surname was John Merril (c. 1460-1520), a prominent merchant and member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in London.
During the Renaissance period, the name Merril continued to be used, although it was less common than in previous centuries. One notable figure from this era was Merril Casaubon (1599-1671), a French scholar and philosopher who made significant contributions to the fields of classical literature and theology.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Merril experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly in the United States. One notable American figure with this name was Merril Cooke (1786-1857), a prominent lawyer and judge who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives.
Other notable individuals named Merril throughout history include Merril Oldham (1865-1942), a British artist and illustrator known for his work in children's literature, and Merril Denison (1904-1975), a Canadian playwright and novelist who was a prominent figure in the Canadian literary scene of the early 20th century.
People
Merril + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merril 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
Merril: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merril?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 279 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merril 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 1,228,510 US residents.
Is Merril a common name?
We classify Merril as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 992 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merril most popular?
The single biggest year for Merril was 1920, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merril is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merril in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 597 people with the name Merril, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,138 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 Merril 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 Merril?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merril on both sides of the split. Of the 585 people counted with this name, 367 were male (62.7%) and 218 were female (37.3%). 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 Merril?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merril is White at 79.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.2%). 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 Merril most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merril in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.6% (475 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 Merril in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merril a male name?
Yes, 86.5% of people registered as Merril 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 Merril still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merril 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 Merril 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 have the name Merril?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Merril on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.