Merle
Merle is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 22 births. Its best rank was 170th, in 1918.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 220.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 1925836 births
- Best rank
- #170in 1918
- Since 1880
- 45,348people given the name
The story in the numbers
30,630 boys have been named Merle in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1925, with 836 births.
The name has all but left use: 22 births in 2024, against 836 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1932, and the 1920s alone account for 26%. It has spent 98 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Merle is used for both sexes: 32% of its bearers are girls (14,718), most of them born around 1921.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Merle | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 207 | |
| 1890s | 378 | |
| 1900s | 651 | |
| 1910s | 4,645 | |
| 1920s | 7,970 | |
| 1930s | 5,800 | |
| 1940s | 4,187 | |
| 1950s | 3,030 | |
| 1960s | 1,503 | |
| 1970s | 929 | |
| 1980s | 502 | |
| 1990s | 292 | |
| 2000s | 214 | |
| 2010s | 180 | |
| 2020s | 142 |
In 1925, its biggest year
Merle was the 175th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1925 were Robert, John, William, James and Charles. See all of 1925.
Names that rose and fell with Merle
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Maynardpeak 1922
- Haroldpeak 1924
- Elwinpeak 1923
- Bernardpeak 1924
- Bufordpeak 1921
- Wiltonpeak 1924
- Wilburnpeak 1926
- Wilbertpeak 1922
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.