Meridian
A feminine name derived from the Latin word for noon or midday.
Name Census estimates that about 384 living Americans carry the first name Meridian. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meridian today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meridian births was 2008 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meridian. 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.
People living today
384
~ 1 in 892,589 Americans
Peak year
2008
20 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,982
Tracked since 1992
Census
Meridian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 367 people with the first name Meridian, which placed it at #25,720 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
#25,720
National first-name rank
People counted
367
367 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meridian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meridian is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Black (10.4%). 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 Meridian 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 Meridian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.9% · 238
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 46
- Black or African American10.4% · 38
- Two or more races8.7% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 5
Popularity
Meridian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meridian from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 124 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Meridian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meridian 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 Meridian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meridians live
Origin
Meaning and history of Meridian
The name Meridian has its roots in the Latin word "meridianus," which means "of midday" or "relating to noon." This word is derived from the Latin "meridies," meaning "midday" or "noon." The name's origin can be traced back to ancient Rome, where it was used to refer to the line or celestial circle that passes through the zenith and nadir, marking the point when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky at noon.
In the context of names, Meridian was likely initially used as a descriptive term or nickname for someone born around midday or someone closely associated with the concept of noon. The name's usage as a given name is relatively recent, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Meridian was Meridian Leigh Arden (1873-1942), an American actress and singer who was active in vaudeville and on Broadway in the early 20th century. Another notable figure was Meridian Baptist Seminary, an American Baptist minister and educator who lived in the late 19th century.
In literature, one of the earliest references to the name Meridian can be found in the novel "Meridian" by Alice Walker, published in 1976. The book's protagonist, a young woman named Meridian Hill, becomes involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Other notable individuals with the name Meridian include:
1. Meridian Paulton (1901-1988), an American film actress and dancer who appeared in several Hollywood musicals in the 1920s and 1930s.
2. Meridian Bryar (born 1983), an American model and actress known for her work in independent films and TV shows.
3. Meridian Jacobs (born 1968), an Australian artist and painter whose works have been exhibited in galleries across Australia and internationally.
4. Meridian Winfield (1927-2007), an American author and poet who published several collections of poetry and short stories during her lifetime.
5. Meridian Culver (1889-1963), an American architect and urban planner who designed several notable buildings and public spaces in the Midwest region of the United States.
While not as common as some other names, Meridian has a unique and intriguing history, with connections to astronomy, literature, and various artistic and creative fields. Its Latin roots and associations with midday and the sun's zenith give the name a distinctive and memorable quality.
People
Meridian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meridian 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
Meridian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meridian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 384 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meridian 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 892,589 US residents.
Is Meridian a common name?
We classify Meridian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 390 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meridian most popular?
The single biggest year for Meridian was 2008, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meridian is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meridian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 367 people with the name Meridian, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,720 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 Meridian 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 Meridian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meridian leans strongly female. 344 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 21 male bearers (5.8%). 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 Meridian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meridian is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Black (10.4%). 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 Meridian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meridian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.9% (238 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 Meridian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meridian a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meridian 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 Meridian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meridian 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 Meridian 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 Meridian?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Meridian, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.