Merlyn
Merlyn is absent from the 2024 data, which means fewer than five births. Its best rank was 509th, in 1931.
- Rank in 2024
- —fewer than 5 births
- Births in 2024
- 0not in the data
- Peak year
- 1930137 births
- Best rank
- #509in 1931
- Since 1908
- 5,030people given the name
The story in the numbers
3,404 boys have been named Merlyn in the United States since 1908, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1930, with 137 births.
The name has all but left use: none recorded in 2024, against 137 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1935, and the 1930s alone account for 32%. It has spent 29 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Merlyn is used for both sexes: 32% of its bearers are girls (1,626), most of them born around 1925.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Merlyn | |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 5 | |
| 1910s | 286 | |
| 1920s | 812 | |
| 1930s | 1,095 | |
| 1940s | 597 | |
| 1950s | 301 | |
| 1960s | 128 | |
| 1970s | 48 | |
| 1980s | 23 | |
| 1990s | 32 | |
| 2000s | 25 | |
| 2010s | 34 | |
| 2020s | 18 |
In 1930, its biggest year
Merlyn was the 510th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1930 were Robert, James, John, William and Richard. See all of 1930.
Names that rose and fell with Merlyn
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Normandpeak 1929
- Doyalpeak 1929
- Verlynpeak 1928
- Mervynpeak 1937
- Doycepeak 1934
- Verlonpeak 1939
- Donalpeak 1930
- Arlispeak 1931
Other spellings in the data
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.