Meriam
A feminine name of Middle Eastern origin meaning "wished for child".
Name Census estimates that about 716 living Americans carry the first name Meriam. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meriam today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meriam births was 1923 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meriam. 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 Meriam with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
716
~ 1 in 478,707 Americans
Peak year
1923
35 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,981
Tracked since 1897
Census
Meriam in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,415 people with the first name Meriam, which placed it at #9,713 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
#9,713
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,415 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meriam
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meriam is White at 45.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.1%) and Hispanic (11.9%). 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 Meriam 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 Meriam at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.7% · 647
- Asian and Pacific Islander28.1% · 398
- Hispanic or Latino11.9% · 169
- Black or African American10.8% · 153
- Two or more races3.0% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 5
Popularity
Meriam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meriam from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 281 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
Meriam 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 Meriam during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meriams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama recorded the most babies named Meriam, while New York, Indiana, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meriam
The name Meriam has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the Biblical name Miriam, which translates to "bitter" or "beloved". It is believed to have originated during the ancient times of the Hebrew people, dating back to around the 13th century BCE.
Miriam was the name of the sister of Moses and Aaron in the Old Testament of the Bible. She is celebrated as a prophet and is revered in both Jewish and Christian traditions. The name gained popularity among the early followers of these faiths, leading to various spellings and forms, including Meriam.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Meriam can be found in the writings of the 4th-century Christian scholar, St. Jerome. He referred to a woman named Meriam who was a devoted follower of Christ and lived in the ancient city of Bethlehem.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Meriam. One such figure was Meriam al-Astrulabi (1018-1087), an influential Arab mathematician and astronomer from Andalusia, Spain. Her contributions to the field of astrology and the development of astronomical instruments were significant during the medieval period.
Another notable figure was Meriam Belqziz (1566-1622), a Moroccan scholar and poet who played a crucial role in preserving and promoting the literary heritage of her country. Her works were widely celebrated and influenced generations of writers and intellectuals in the region.
In the 18th century, Meriam Ismail (1718-1788) was a prominent Egyptian scholar and linguist who made significant contributions to the study of Arabic grammar and lexicography. Her work helped preserve the richness and complexity of the Arabic language during a period of cultural and intellectual renaissance in the region.
In more recent times, Meriam Yahya Ibrahim (born 1987) gained international recognition for her courageous stand against religious persecution in Sudan. Her refusal to renounce her Christian faith, despite facing the threat of execution, sparked a global outcry and ultimately led to her release and resettlement in the United States.
The name Meriam has endured through the ages, carrying with it a rich history and cultural significance. Its origins can be traced back to the ancient Hebrew people, and it has been borne by notable individuals across various fields, including mathematics, astronomy, literature, linguistics, and human rights activism.
People
Meriam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meriam 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
Meriam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meriam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 716 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meriam 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 478,707 US residents.
Is Meriam a common name?
We classify Meriam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,391 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meriam most popular?
The single biggest year for Meriam was 1923, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meriam is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meriam in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,415 people with the name Meriam, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,713 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 Meriam 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 Meriam?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meriam appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,414 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Meriam?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meriam is White at 45.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.1%) and Hispanic (11.9%). 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 Meriam most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meriam in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.7% (647 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 Meriam in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meriam a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meriam 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 Meriam still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meriam 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 Meriam 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 have Meriam as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Meriam, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.