Merit
A feminine French name meaning "earned reward" or "due praise".
Name Census estimates that about 440 living Americans carry the first name Merit. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 56.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Merit today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merit births was 2023 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merit. 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
440
~ 1 in 778,987 Americans
Peak year
2023
37 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,338
Tracked since 1918
Gender
Gender distribution for Merit
Merit is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 471 total registrations, 206 (43.7%) were male and 265 (56.3%) were female.
Merit as a male name
- Ranked #6,338 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (16 births)
Merit as a female name
- Ranked #7,446 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (26 births)
Popularity
Merit: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merit from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 212 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Merit remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merit 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 Merit during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merits live
Origin
Meaning and history of Merit
The name Merit is believed to have its origins in the ancient Egyptian language. It is derived from the Egyptian word "mry.t," which means "beloved" or "cherished." This name was popular among the ancient Egyptians and can be traced back to the early dynastic period, around 3100 BCE.
In ancient Egyptian texts, the name Merit is often associated with goddesses and princesses. One of the earliest known references is found in the Pyramid Texts, a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary inscriptions dating back to around 2400 BCE. Here, the name is mentioned in connection with the goddess Isis, who was considered the embodiment of devotion and motherly love.
During the New Kingdom period (1550-1070 BCE), the name Merit gained further prominence. Several notable women from this era bore the name, including Merit-Ptah, a high priestess of the god Ptah, and Merit-Amon, a chantress of the god Amon. These women held influential positions in the religious and social spheres of ancient Egyptian society.
In Greek and Roman times, the name Merit was often Hellenized or Latinized as "Merita" or "Meritia." One of the earliest recorded examples of this form is Meritia, a Roman woman mentioned in an inscription from the 1st century BCE.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who carried the name Merit or its variations:
1. Merit-Amon (c. 1400 BCE), a powerful Egyptian chantress and singer in the temple of Amon at Thebes.
2. Merit-Ptah (c. 1300 BCE), a high priestess of the god Ptah during the reign of Ramesses II.
3. Meritia (1st century BCE), a Roman woman mentioned in an inscription from the city of Pompeii.
4. Merit-Seger (c. 1200 BCE), an Egyptian princess and daughter of Ramesses II.
5. Merit-Amun (c. 1000 BCE), an Egyptian noble woman and wife of the High Priest of Amon, Amenhotep.
While the name Merit is rooted in ancient Egyptian culture, it has been adopted and adapted by various other civilizations over time, reflecting the enduring appeal and significance of this name throughout history.
People
Merit + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merit 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
Merit: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merit?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 440 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merit 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 778,987 US residents.
Is Merit a common name?
We classify Merit as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 471 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merit most popular?
The single biggest year for Merit was 2023, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merit is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Merit a female name?
Yes, 56.3% of people registered as Merit 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.
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.