Merwyn
A masculine name of Welsh origin meaning "sea-born or born by the sea".
Name Census estimates that about 202 living Americans carry the first name Merwyn. It is a predominantly male name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Merwyn today is around 81 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merwyn births was 1937 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merwyn. 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 Merwyn is about 81 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Merwyns were born before 1955.
People living today
202
~ 1 in 1,696,804 Americans
Peak year
1937
38 babies that year
Average age
81
years old
1971 SSA rank
#4,740
Tracked since 1912
Census
Merwyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 377 people with the first name Merwyn, which placed it at #25,213 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
#25,213
National first-name rank
People counted
377
377 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merwyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merwyn is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.9%) and Black (9.3%). 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 Merwyn 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 Merwyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.1% · 283
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.9% · 41
- Black or African American9.3% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 9
- Two or more races1.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Merwyn
Merwyn leans heavily male at 98.7% of total registrations, but 10 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Merwyn as a male name
- Ranked #4,740 in 1971
- 6 male births in 1971
- Peak: 1937 (38 births)
Merwyn as a female name
- Ranked #5,529 in 1925
- 5 female births in 1925
- Peak: 1917 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merwyn leans strongly male. 362 people counted with this name were male (94.3%), compared with 22 female bearers (5.7%).
Popularity
Merwyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merwyn from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 288 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merwyn 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 Merwyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merwyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Illinois, Iowa, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Merwyn, while Wisconsin, Washington, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merwyn
The name Merwyn is believed to have originated from the Old English language, which was spoken in Britain during the early medieval period. It is thought to be derived from the Old English words "mere," meaning "famous," and "wine," meaning "friend" or "protector." Thus, the name Merwyn could be interpreted as "famous friend" or "famous protector."
While the exact origins of the name are uncertain, it is thought to have first emerged in the Anglo-Saxon territories of present-day England during the 5th to 11th centuries. The name may have been used as a personal name or as a descriptive term for someone who was well-known and highly regarded within their community.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Merwyn can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This document mentions a person named "Merwine" who held land in the county of Lincolnshire.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Merwyn. One such person was Merwyn le Breton, a 13th-century English knight who served under King Edward I and participated in the Welsh Wars and the Scottish Wars of Independence.
Another prominent figure was Merwyn Griffith-Williams, a 19th-century Welsh clergyman and scholar who served as the Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, from 1892 to 1908. He was instrumental in promoting higher education in Wales and played a significant role in the Welsh cultural renaissance of the late 19th century.
In the literary realm, Merwyn Peake was a renowned 20th-century English novelist, poet, and illustrator best known for his epic fantasy series "Gormenghast." He was born in 1911 and passed away in 1968, leaving behind a lasting legacy in the world of literature.
Another notable figure was Merwyn Crudge, a British lawyer and legal scholar who lived from 1910 to 1994. He was a prominent figure in the field of commercial law and served as a judge on the High Court of England and Wales.
Lastly, Merwyn Stokes was a Canadian ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in 1900 and played for teams such as the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning the Stanley Cup with the latter in 1932.
People
Merwyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merwyn 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
Merwyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merwyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merwyn 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 1,696,804 US residents.
Is Merwyn a common name?
We classify Merwyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 796 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merwyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Merwyn was 1937, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merwyn is about 81 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merwyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 377 people with the name Merwyn, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,213 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 Merwyn 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 Merwyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merwyn leans strongly male. 362 people counted with this name were male (94.3%), compared with 22 female bearers (5.7%). 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 Merwyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merwyn is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.9%) and Black (9.3%). 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 Merwyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merwyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.1% (283 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 Merwyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merwyn a male name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Merwyn 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 Merwyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merwyn 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 Merwyn 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 Merwyn?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.