Merlin
A legendary name referring to the famous wizard in Arthurian legends.
Name Census estimates that about 6,720 living Americans carry the first name Merlin. It is a predominantly male name (94.3% of registrations). The average person named Merlin today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merlin births was 1927 (405 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merlin. 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 Merlin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.7K
~ 1 in 51,005 Americans
Peak year
1927
405 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,083
Tracked since 1885
Census
Merlin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,656 people with the first name Merlin, which placed it at #2,707 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
#2,707
National first-name rank
People counted
8.7K
8,656 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merlin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merlin is White at 61.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.5%) and Black (7.6%). 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 Merlin 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 Merlin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.5% · 5,326
- Hispanic or Latino22.5% · 1,951
- Black or African American7.6% · 658
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 393
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 182
- Two or more races1.7% · 146
Gender
Gender distribution for Merlin
Merlin leans heavily male at 94.3% of total registrations, but 904 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Merlin as a male name
- Ranked #2,083 in 2024
- 72 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1927 (389 births)
Merlin as a female name
- Ranked #8,241 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (30 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merlin on both sides of the split. Of the 8,662 people counted with this name, 6,740 were male (77.8%) and 1,922 were female (22.2%).
Popularity
Merlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merlin from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 3,435 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
Merlin 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 Merlin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merlins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Merlin, while New Mexico, Maine, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 314 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merlin
The name Merlin is believed to have originated from the Welsh language and culture, with its roots tracing back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Welsh name "Myrddin," which itself may have come from the Brittonic word "mori-dunon," meaning "sea fortress."
Merlin is most famously associated with the legendary wizard of the same name who appears in the Arthurian legends, particularly in Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Historia Regum Britanniae" (History of the Kings of Britain), written in the 12th century. This work popularized the character of Merlin as a powerful sorcerer and advisor to King Arthur.
One of the earliest recorded individuals named Merlin was a 6th-century poet and prophet from the region of present-day Scotland, known as Myrddin Wyllt (Merlin the Wild). His life and prophecies were recorded in various medieval Welsh texts, such as the "Black Book of Carmarthen" and the "Book of Taliesin."
Another notable figure was Merlin Silvester, a 12th-century writer and interpreter who translated various works from Arabic into Latin, including texts on astrology and alchemy. He was active during the reign of King Henry II of England.
In the 15th century, Merlin Coccaie, an Italian poet and scholar, gained recognition for his satirical work "Opus Macaronicum," written in a mixture of Latin and Italian dialects.
During the Tudor period in England, Merlin was a relatively popular name, with several individuals bearing it, such as Merlin Tyndale, a 16th-century Protestant reformer and translator of the Bible into English.
In more recent times, Merlin Olsen (1940-2010) was a famous American football player and actor, best known for his role in the TV series "Little House on the Prairie."
Throughout history, the name Merlin has been associated with wisdom, magic, and the legendary figure from Arthurian literature, making it a captivating choice for many parents seeking a name with a rich cultural heritage.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Merlin
People
Merlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merlin 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
Merlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,720 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merlin 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 51,005 US residents.
Is Merlin a common name?
We classify Merlin as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,891 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Merlin was 1927, when 405 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merlin is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merlin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,656 people with the name Merlin, or 2.87 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,707 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 Merlin 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 Merlin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Merlin on both sides of the split. Of the 8,662 people counted with this name, 6,740 were male (77.8%) and 1,922 were female (22.2%). 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 Merlin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merlin is White at 61.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.5%) and Black (7.6%). 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 Merlin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merlin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.5% (5,326 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 Merlin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merlin a male name?
Yes, 94.3% of people registered as Merlin in the SSA data are male. 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 Merlin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merlin 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 Merlin 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 Merlin?
Want to know how many Americans are named Merlin? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.