Merrick
A masculine given name of English origin meaning "bright sea" or "bright pool".
Name Census estimates that about 5,759 living Americans carry the first name Merrick. It is a predominantly male name (91.8% of registrations). The average person named Merrick today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merrick births was 2017 (296 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merrick. 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
5.8K
~ 1 in 59,516 Americans
Peak year
2017
296 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,219
Tracked since 1905
Gender
Gender distribution for Merrick
Merrick leans heavily male at 91.8% of total registrations, but 502 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Merrick as a male name
- Ranked #1,219 in 2024
- 165 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (274 births)
Merrick as a female name
- Ranked #7,116 in 2024
- 16 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (24 births)
Popularity
Merrick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merrick from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,050 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Merrick remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merrick 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 Merrick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merricks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Merrick, while New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 88 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Merrick
The name Merrick is of Old English origin, derived from the Old English words "merry" and "rick," meaning "pleasant power" or "pleasant ruler." The name first appeared in written records during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Merrick can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England completed in 1086 under the orders of William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book mentions a landowner named Merrick who held estates in Gloucestershire.
In the 12th century, a notable figure named Merrick was a monk and chronicler at the abbey of St. Albans in Hertfordshire, England. He authored several historical works, including a chronicle of the abbey's history.
During the Middle Ages, the name Merrick was particularly popular among the nobility and upper classes in England. One famous bearer of the name was Merrick de Auberville, a Norman knight who fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
In the 16th century, Merrick was the name of a prominent English family from Northamptonshire. Sir Merrick Mordaunt (1495-1563) served as a member of Parliament and was a close advisor to King Henry VIII.
Another notable figure with the name Merrick was Joseph Merrick (1862-1890), also known as the "Elephant Man." He suffered from severe deformities and became a celebrated figure in Victorian England due to his remarkable life story.
While the name Merrick has its roots in Old English, it has been used across various cultures and regions over the centuries. Some historical figures with this name include Merrick Garland (born 1952), an American lawyer and former judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Merrick Bremner (born 1942), a South African cricketer who played for the national team in the 1960s.
People
Merrick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merrick 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
Merrick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merrick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,759 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merrick 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 59,516 US residents.
Is Merrick a common name?
We classify Merrick as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merrick most popular?
The single biggest year for Merrick was 2017, when 296 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merrick is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Merrick a male name?
Yes, 91.8% of people registered as Merrick 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.
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.