Merric
A masculine name of English origin meaning "wealthy ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 168 living Americans carry the first name Merric. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Merric today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merric births was 2006 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merric. 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
168
~ 1 in 2,040,204 Americans
Peak year
2006
17 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2022 SSA rank
#9,553
Tracked since 2004
Census
Merric in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 196 people with the first name Merric, which placed it at #38,869 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
#38,869
National first-name rank
People counted
196
196 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Merric
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merric is White at 70.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.2%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Merric 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 Merric at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.9% · 139
- Two or more races10.2% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 15
- Black or African American6.6% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Merric: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merric from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 89 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merric 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 Merric 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 Merric
The name Merric has its origins in the Old English language, emerging during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th centuries. It is believed to be derived from the Old English words "merry" and "ric," meaning "famous ruler" or "mighty ruler."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Merric can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name was in use among the Anglo-Saxon population before the Norman Conquest in 1066.
During the Middle Ages, the name Merric appeared in various historical records and chronicles, though its usage was relatively uncommon compared to other Anglo-Saxon names of the time. One notable individual bearing this name was Merric of Lewes, a 12th-century Benedictine monk and historian who wrote a chronicle detailing the history of the Abbey of Lewes in Sussex.
In the 13th century, a Merric de Braham was mentioned in the Curia Regis Rolls, which were records of legal proceedings held before the King's Court in England. This indicates that the name was still in use, though likely among the upper classes or nobility.
As time progressed, the name Merric became increasingly rare, though it did appear sporadically throughout history. In the 16th century, a Merric Casaubon was a renowned French humanist scholar and philologist, best known for his work in editing and translating ancient Greek texts.
Another notable figure was Merric Hoccaday, an English Puritan minister who lived in the 17th century and was known for his sermons and religious writings.
In more recent times, the name Merric has seen a resurgence in popularity, particularly in certain regions and cultures. However, its usage remains relatively uncommon compared to other names of similar origin.
People
Merric + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merric 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
Merric: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merric?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 168 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merric 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 2,040,204 US residents.
Is Merric a common name?
We classify Merric as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 170 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merric most popular?
The single biggest year for Merric was 2006, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merric is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Merric in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 196 people with the name Merric, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,869 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 Merric 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 Merric?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Merric leans strongly male. 168 people counted with this name were male (85.7%), compared with 28 female bearers (14.3%). 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 Merric?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Merric is White at 70.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.2%) and Hispanic (7.7%). 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 Merric most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Merric in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.9% (139 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 Merric in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merric a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Merric 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 Merric still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merric 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 Merric 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 Americans are named Merric?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.