Merrianne
Variant of Mary, derived from Hebrew "Miryam" meaning "beloved" or "desired child".
Name Census estimates that about 85 living Americans carry the first name Merrianne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Merrianne today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merrianne births was 1948 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merrianne. 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 Merrianne is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Merriannes were born before 1965.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Merrianne. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
85
~ 1 in 4,032,404 Americans
Peak year
1948
10 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1966 SSA rank
#7,267
Tracked since 1942
Census
Merrianne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 184 people with the first name Merrianne, which placed it at #40,443 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
#40,443
National first-name rank
People counted
184
184 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merrianne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merrianne is White at 89.1%. The next largest groups are Black (3.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.7%). 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 Merrianne 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 Merrianne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.1% · 164
- Black or African American3.8% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 5
- Two or more races2.7% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 3
Popularity
Merrianne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merrianne from the 1940s through to the 1960s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 54 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Merrianne remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merrianne 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 Merrianne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merrianne
The name Merrianne is a combination of two distinct names, Merri and Anne. The first part, Merri, is derived from the Old English word "myrige," meaning "pleasant" or "cheerful." It is believed to have originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries.
Anne, on the other hand, is a Hebrew name with roots in the biblical name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor." The name Anne gained widespread popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, when it was introduced to the region by the Normans.
While the exact origins of the combined name Merrianne are unclear, it is likely that it emerged as a compound name in English-speaking regions, possibly during the late medieval or early modern period. The name may have been created by combining the pleasant connotations of Merri with the biblical associations of Anne.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Merrianne can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England, dating back to the late 16th century. Here, a Merrianne Smythe was mentioned in the baptismal records of 1587.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Merrianne. One prominent example is Merrianne Dyer (1633-1660), a Quaker preacher and activist who was executed in Boston, Massachusetts, for her religious beliefs during the Puritan era. Another notable figure is Merrianne Patteson (1796-1872), an English missionary who was martyred in the Solomon Islands while attempting to spread Christianity.
In the literary world, Merrianne Fitzherbert (1785-1858) was a British writer and poet who published several works, including "The Memoirs of Miss Fitzherbert" and "The Life and Times of Charles James Fox." Additionally, Merrianne Tompkins (1817-1854) was an American author and educator who wrote several books on education and women's rights.
Lastly, Merrianne Williamson (born 1952) is a contemporary American author, spiritual leader, and political activist who has written several bestselling books, including "A Return to Love" and "Healing the Soul of America."
People
Merrianne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merrianne 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
Merrianne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merrianne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 85 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merrianne 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 4,032,404 US residents.
Is Merrianne a common name?
We classify Merrianne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 129 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merrianne most popular?
The single biggest year for Merrianne was 1948, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merrianne is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merrianne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 184 people with the name Merrianne, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,443 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 Merrianne 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 Merrianne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merrianne appears almost entirely female. Of the 182 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 Merrianne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merrianne is White at 89.1%. The next largest groups are Black (3.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.7%). 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 Merrianne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merrianne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.1% (164 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 Merrianne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merrianne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Merrianne 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 Merrianne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merrianne 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 Merrianne 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 Merrianne?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Merrianne on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.