Mervin
Derived from French and meaning "falcon friend" or "sea brightness".
Name Census estimates that about 5,832 living Americans carry the first name Mervin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mervin today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mervin births was 1920 (257 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mervin. 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 Mervin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.8K
~ 1 in 58,771 Americans
Peak year
1920
257 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,408
Tracked since 1880
Census
Mervin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,257 people with the first name Mervin, which placed it at #3,380 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
#3,380
National first-name rank
People counted
6.3K
6,257 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mervin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mervin is White at 63.9%. The next largest groups are Black (19.7%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Mervin 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 Mervin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.9% · 4,001
- Black or African American19.7% · 1,232
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 461
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 360
- Two or more races1.7% · 108
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 95
Gender
Gender distribution for Mervin
Out of the 12,297 babies given the name Mervin since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Mervin as a male name
- Ranked #2,408 in 2024
- 58 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (249 births)
Mervin as a female name
- Ranked #4,686 in 1935
- 5 female births in 1935
- Peak: 1919 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mervin appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,257 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Mervin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mervin 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 2,241 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
Mervin 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 Mervin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mervins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Ohio, California recorded the most babies named Mervin, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 203 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mervin
The name Mervin has its origins in the Old English language, stemming from the combination of the words "mere" meaning "famous" and "wine" meaning "friend". This suggests that the name was originally intended to convey the meaning of "famous friend" or "renowned companion".
The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the late 9th century, during the Anglo-Saxon period in England. It was primarily used among the nobility and upper classes, indicating a level of prestige associated with the name.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Mervin of Mercia, a minor nobleman who lived in the late 10th century. His name is mentioned in several historical records from that era, though little else is known about his life and accomplishments.
In the 12th century, the name gained some prominence with the rise of Mervin de Lacy, a Norman knight and military commander who played a significant role in the Norman conquest of Ireland. He was granted extensive lands in County Meath and established the de Lacy dynasty, which wielded considerable power and influence in Ireland for several centuries.
During the Middle Ages, the name Mervin appeared in various literary works, including the epic poem "Beowulf" and the writings of the renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer. This suggests that the name had gained a certain level of cultural significance and recognition within medieval English society.
In the 16th century, one of the most notable figures bearing the name was Mervin Touchet, Earl of Castlehaven, an English nobleman who served as a military commander during the English Civil War. Despite initially supporting the Royalist cause, he later switched allegiances and fought for the Parliamentarian forces.
Another historical figure of note was Mervin Alastair, a Scottish philosopher and scholar who lived in the late 17th century. He is best known for his influential work "Treatise on the Nature of Reason", which explored the intersection of rationality, ethics, and metaphysics.
In the 19th century, the name resurfaced with Mervin Aylwin, a British explorer and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of flora and fauna in the Australian outback. His detailed journals and sketches provided valuable insights into the region's biodiversity during that era.
People
Mervin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mervin 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
Mervin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mervin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,832 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mervin 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 58,771 US residents.
Is Mervin a common name?
We classify Mervin 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, 12,297 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mervin most popular?
The single biggest year for Mervin was 1920, when 257 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mervin is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mervin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,257 people with the name Mervin, or 2.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,380 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 Mervin 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 Mervin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mervin appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,257 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Mervin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mervin is White at 63.9%. The next largest groups are Black (19.7%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Mervin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mervin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.9% (4,001 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 Mervin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mervin a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Mervin 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 Mervin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mervin 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 Mervin 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 common is the name Mervin?
See how many Americans are named Mervin on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.