Mercia
An Old English given name meaning "border kingdom" or "frontier territory".
Name Census estimates that about 48 living Americans carry the first name Mercia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mercia today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mercia births was 1919 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mercia. 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 Mercia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mercia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
48
~ 1 in 7,140,715 Americans
Peak year
1919
9 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2016 SSA rank
#17,974
Tracked since 1918
Census
Mercia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 399 people with the first name Mercia, which placed it at #24,220 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
#24,220
National first-name rank
People counted
399
399 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mercia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mercia is White at 43.1%. The next largest groups are Black (33.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.0%). 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 Mercia 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 Mercia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.1% · 172
- Black or African American33.8% · 135
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.0% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 28
- Two or more races5.8% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Mercia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mercia from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 20 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
Mercia 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 Mercia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mercia
The name Mercia has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the name of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, which existed from the 6th to the 10th century in what is now central England. The kingdom's name is thought to come from the Old English words "mierce" or "merce," meaning "boundary people" or "frontier people," referring to the kingdom's location on the border between the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic territories.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mercia can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals describing the history of the Anglo-Saxons, which mentions several Mercian kings and rulers. One notable figure in Mercian history was Lady Aethelflaed (c. 870-918), the daughter of King Alfred the Great, who became the Lady of the Mercians and played a crucial role in defending the kingdom against Viking invasions.
During the Middle Ages, the name Mercia was occasionally used as a given name, although it remained relatively rare. One notable bearer of the name was Mercia, Countess of Winchilsea (c. 1598-1678), an English poet and playwright who was a prominent figure in the literary circles of the 17th century.
In more recent times, the name Mercia gained some popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, possibly influenced by the renewed interest in Anglo-Saxon history and literature during the Victorian era. One notable bearer of the name was Mercia MacDermott (1898-1992), an American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway productions and films in the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable figure with the name Mercia was Mercia Eliade-Roerich (1892-1985), a Romanian-American artist and writer who was the wife of the famous writer and philosopher Mircea Eliade. She was known for her paintings and writings on spiritual themes, and her work was influenced by her travels to India and other parts of Asia.
While not a common name today, Mercia continues to be used occasionally as a given name, particularly in English-speaking countries with ties to Anglo-Saxon heritage. Its distinctive sound and historical significance make it a unique and intriguing choice for parents seeking a name with a rich cultural background.
People
Mercia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mercia 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
Mercia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mercia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 48 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mercia 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 7,140,715 US residents.
Is Mercia a common name?
We classify Mercia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 114 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mercia most popular?
The single biggest year for Mercia was 1919, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mercia is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mercia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 399 people with the name Mercia, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,220 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 Mercia 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 Mercia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mercia appears almost entirely female. Of the 395 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Mercia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mercia is White at 43.1%. The next largest groups are Black (33.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.0%). 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 Mercia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mercia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.1% (172 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 Mercia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mercia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mercia in the SSA data are female. 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 Mercia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mercia 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 Mercia 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 many people are named Mercia?
Want to know how many people share the name Mercia? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.