Merial
Name meaning "of the sea, maritime".
Name Census estimates that about 20 living Americans carry the first name Merial. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Merial today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merial births was 1922 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merial. 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 Merial is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Merials were born before 1959.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Merial. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
20
~ 1 in 17,137,717 Americans
Peak year
1922
9 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1962 SSA rank
#7,225
Tracked since 1914
Census
Merial in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 126 people with the first name Merial, which placed it at #49,344 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
#49,344
National first-name rank
People counted
126
126 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merial
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merial is White at 54.0%. The next largest groups are Black (38.1%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Merial 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 Merial at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.0% · 68
- Black or African American38.1% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1
- Two or more races0.8% · 1
Popularity
Merial: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merial from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 35 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
Merial 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 Merial 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 Merial
The name Merial has its origins in Latin, with the root word "mereri" meaning "to deserve" or "to merit." It emerged during the medieval period in various European regions influenced by Latin culture and language.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Merial was primarily used in regions like France, Italy, and Spain, where Latin had a significant linguistic impact. It was often a feminine form derived from the masculine name Merius or Merio, which itself stemmed from the Latin root.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Merial can be found in the 12th-century French epic poem "Le Roman de la Rose," where a character named Merial is mentioned. This literary reference suggests that the name had already gained some popularity in medieval French society.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance period, several notable individuals bore the name Merial. One such person was Merial de Thouars (c. 1220 - c. 1280), a French noblewoman and heiress who held significant lands and titles in the region of Poitou.
In the 16th century, Merial de Serres (1540 - 1619) was a French Protestant scholar and agriculturist known for his contributions to agrarian literature and husbandry practices.
Moving into the 17th century, Merial du Val (1600 - 1675) was a French painter renowned for her portraiture and religious artworks, some of which can still be found in churches and museums across France.
Another notable figure was Merial Sibyl Pitt (1758 - 1835), an English author and writer who published several novels and works of fiction during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
In the 19th century, Merial Avery (1846 - 1920) was an American educator and advocate for women's rights, serving as the president of the Massachusetts State Federation of Women's Clubs and actively campaigning for women's suffrage.
While the name Merial has waned in popularity in recent times, its long history and linguistic roots in Latin continue to be a testament to its enduring legacy across various cultures and eras.
People
Merial + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merial 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
Merial: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merial?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merial 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 17,137,717 US residents.
Is Merial a common name?
We classify Merial as "Very Rare". It ranks above 39.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 92 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merial most popular?
The single biggest year for Merial was 1922, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merial is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merial in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 126 people with the name Merial, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,344 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 Merial 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 Merial?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merial leans strongly female. 121 people counted with this name were female (93.8%), compared with 8 male bearers (6.2%). 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 Merial?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merial is White at 54.0%. The next largest groups are Black (38.1%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Merial most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merial in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.0% (68 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 Merial in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merial a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Merial 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 Merial still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merial 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 Merial 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 called Merial?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.