Merritt
A name possibly derived from the Old French word "merir" meaning "to deserve."
Name Census estimates that about 5,793 living Americans carry the first name Merritt. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 68.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Merritt today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merritt births was 2017 (280 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merritt. 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
5.8K
~ 1 in 59,167 Americans
Peak year
2017
280 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,409
Tracked since 1880
Census
Merritt in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,802 people with the first name Merritt, which placed it at #4,039 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
#4,039
National first-name rank
People counted
4.8K
4,802 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merritt
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merritt is White at 88.7%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Merritt 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 Merritt at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.7% · 4,258
- Black or African American4.0% · 194
- Two or more races3.4% · 163
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 129
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Merritt
Merritt is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 8,863 total registrations, 6,034 (68.1%) were male and 2,829 (31.9%) were female.
Merritt as a male name
- Ranked #1,899 in 2024
- 84 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (121 births)
Merritt as a female name
- Ranked #1,409 in 2024
- 158 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (175 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merritt on both sides of the split. Of the 4,797 people counted with this name, 2,675 were male (55.8%) and 2,122 were female (44.2%).
Popularity
Merritt: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merritt from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,636 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Merritt remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merritt 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 Merritt during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merritts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. New York, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Merritt, while Vermont, South Dakota, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 83 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merritt
The name Merritt finds its roots in the Old French word "merit", which means "earned" or "deserved". It is a surname that originated in medieval France and was later adopted as a given name in English-speaking countries.
In its earliest usage, the name Merritt was a descriptive surname, likely given to individuals who had earned respect or recognition for their actions or achievements. It was a way of acknowledging one's merits or accomplishments.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Merritt can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Meriet" in this historical record.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Merritt. One of the earliest was Merritt Peake (1551-1619), an English clergyman and scholar who served as the Dean of Ely Cathedral in the late 16th century.
Another prominent figure was Merritt Gally (1719-1804), an American patriot and soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He served as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army and was known for his bravery and leadership on the battlefield.
In the realm of literature, Merritt Parkhurst Fernald (1823-1908) was an American botanist and author. He published several works on the flora of Maine and contributed significantly to the field of plant taxonomy.
Moving into the 20th century, Merritt Wever (1979-) is an American actress known for her roles in shows like "Nurse Jackie" and "The Walking Dead". She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie in 2013.
Finally, Merritt Terhune (1905-1972) was an American football player and coach. He played as a halfback for the New York Giants and later served as the head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins in the 1940s and 1950s.
People
Merritt + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merritt 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
Merritt: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merritt?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,793 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merritt 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 59,167 US residents.
Is Merritt a common name?
We classify Merritt as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,863 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merritt most popular?
The single biggest year for Merritt was 2017, when 280 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merritt is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merritt in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,802 people with the name Merritt, or 1.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,039 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 Merritt 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 Merritt?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merritt on both sides of the split. Of the 4,797 people counted with this name, 2,675 were male (55.8%) and 2,122 were female (44.2%). 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 Merritt?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merritt is White at 88.7%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Merritt most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merritt in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.7% (4,258 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 Merritt in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merritt a male name?
Yes, 68.1% of people registered as Merritt 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 Merritt still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merritt 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 Merritt 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 Merritt?
See how many Americans are named Merritt on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.