first name
MERLE
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 15,757 people named Merle, 82.4% reported their origin as White, 7.6% as Black and 3.9% as Asian or Pacific Islander. 63.4% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
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Merle peaked in 1921, when 1,275 babies got the name.
At least 45,389 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.
Merle by decade
Among all names given to American babies, it ranked #327 in every decade from the 1910s to the 1920s. The largest share of babies named Merle, 40.9%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.
Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.
Where Merle is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Merle has been most common in South Dakota (6.9×), Iowa (5.6×), and Nebraska (4.6×), and least common in Arizona (0.09×).
35,331 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.
Either side of Merle
Spelled almost the same
6 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Merle, most common first.
Also a last name
As a last name, Merle ranks #25,489 of 156,621, with 1,016 people. See Merle as a last name
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