Merlene
Feminine variant of the French name Merline, meaning "blackbird" in Old French.
Name Census estimates that about 908 living Americans carry the first name Merlene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Merlene today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merlene births was 1940 (93 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merlene. 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 Merlene is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Merlenes were born before 1962.
People living today
908
~ 1 in 377,483 Americans
Peak year
1940
93 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1984 SSA rank
#11,533
Tracked since 1913
Census
Merlene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,876 people with the first name Merlene, which placed it at #7,894 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
#7,894
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,876 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merlene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merlene is White at 51.7%. The next largest groups are Black (37.0%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Merlene 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 Merlene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.7% · 969
- Black or African American37.0% · 695
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 80
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 76
- Two or more races2.1% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 16
Popularity
Merlene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merlene from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 687 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merlene 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 Merlene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merlenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Texas, California, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Merlene, while Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merlene
The name Merlene is a relatively modern feminine name that emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century. It is believed to be a combination of the French name Merle, derived from the Old French word "merle" meaning "blackbird," and the suffix "-ene," which was a popular ending for feminine names during that time period.
While the exact origin of the name Merlene is not well-documented, it is likely that it was created as a new name by combining existing name elements. There are no known historical references or appearances of the name Merlene in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records prior to the late 19th century.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Merlene can be found in the United States in the early 20th century. Merlene Dietrich (1901-1992) was a German-American actress and singer who rose to international fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was known for her distinctive husky voice and her roles in films such as "The Blue Angel" and "Witness for the Prosecution."
Another notable figure with the name Merlene was Merlene Ottey (born 1960), a Jamaican sprinter and Olympic medalist. She is considered one of the greatest female track athletes of all time, having won numerous medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, and other major international competitions.
Merlene Favors (born 1957) is an American former track and field athlete who specialized in the long jump. She won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2006.
Merlene Weingrod (1942-2013) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She co-founded the retail chain Fidelity Investments and was actively involved in various charitable organizations, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the United Way.
Merlene Wright (born 1953) is a British actress best known for her roles in television series such as "Doctors," "Grange Hill," and "Coronation Street." She has had a prolific career in television and theater spanning several decades.
While the name Merlene is not widely popular today, it has a rich history and has been borne by several notable individuals across various fields, including entertainment, sports, business, and philanthropy.
People
Merlene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merlene 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
Merlene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merlene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 908 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merlene 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 377,483 US residents.
Is Merlene a common name?
We classify Merlene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,379 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merlene most popular?
The single biggest year for Merlene was 1940, when 93 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merlene is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merlene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,876 people with the name Merlene, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,894 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 Merlene 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 Merlene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merlene appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,883 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Merlene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merlene is White at 51.7%. The next largest groups are Black (37.0%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Merlene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merlene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.7% (969 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 Merlene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merlene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Merlene 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 Merlene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merlene 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 Merlene 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 named Merlene?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.