Merla
A feminine Spanish name, possibly related to the English word "merle" meaning blackbird.
Name Census estimates that about 156 living Americans carry the first name Merla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Merla today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merla births was 1949 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merla. 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 Merla is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Merlas were born before 1960.
People living today
156
~ 1 in 2,197,143 Americans
Peak year
1949
16 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1966 SSA rank
#7,265
Tracked since 1908
Census
Merla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 501 people with the first name Merla, which placed it at #20,571 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
#20,571
National first-name rank
People counted
501
501 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merla is White at 51.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (30.1%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Merla 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 Merla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.7% · 259
- Asian and Pacific Islander30.1% · 151
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 40
- Black or African American7.8% · 39
- Two or more races1.4% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
Popularity
Merla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merla from the 1900s through to the 1960s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 116 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merla 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 Merla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merlas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Merla
The given name Merla is believed to have originated from the Old English language, where it was derived from the word "merl," which meant "blackbird" or "merle." This name likely emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th century.
Merla was a relatively uncommon name during the Middle Ages, but it did appear in some historical records and manuscripts from that time period. One notable mention of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England conducted in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror.
The earliest recorded bearer of the name Merla was a woman named Merla of Ely, who lived in the late 11th century and was known for her philanthropy and support of religious institutions. Another prominent figure with this name was Merla de Beaumont, a Norman noblewoman who lived in the 12th century and was married to a powerful baron.
During the Renaissance period, the name Merla gained some popularity among the upper classes in England and Scotland. One notable bearer was Merla Douglas, a Scottish aristocrat born in 1560, who was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of Denmark.
In the 17th century, the name Merla was sometimes used as a variant spelling of the name Merle, which was more common in France and other parts of Europe. One example is Merla de Sancy, a French courtier and diplomat who lived from 1598 to 1672 and served under King Louis XIII.
As the popularity of the name Merla waned in later centuries, it became increasingly rare. However, there have been a few notable individuals who carried the name in more recent times, such as Merla Zellerbach (1894-1988), an American philanthropist and art collector, and Merla Thompson (1924-2011), a Canadian painter and sculptor.
Overall, the name Merla has a long and intriguing history, with its roots stretching back to the early medieval period in Britain. While it has never been a widespread name, it has been borne by a number of interesting and accomplished individuals throughout the centuries.
People
Merla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merla 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
Merla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merla 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 2,197,143 US residents.
Is Merla a common name?
We classify Merla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 424 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merla most popular?
The single biggest year for Merla was 1949, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merla is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 501 people with the name Merla, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,571 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 Merla 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 Merla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merla appears almost entirely female. Of the 501 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Merla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merla is White at 51.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (30.1%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Merla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.7% (259 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 Merla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Merla 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 Merla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merla 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 Merla 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 the name Merla?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Merla, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.