Merville
From the French "Mer" meaning "the sea" and "ville" meaning "town".
Name Census estimates that about 7 living Americans carry the first name Merville. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Merville today is around 89 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Merville births was 1918 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Merville. 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 Merville is about 89 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mervilles were born before 1947.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Merville. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
7
~ 1 in 48,964,905 Americans
Peak year
1918
12 babies that year
Average age
89
years old
1952 SSA rank
#3,605
Tracked since 1899
Popularity
Merville: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Merville from the 1890s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 54 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Merville 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 Merville 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 Merville
The name Merville is a French place name derived from the Old French words "mer" meaning sea and "ville" meaning town or city. It originated in the northern regions of France, likely referring to a coastal settlement near the English Channel or North Sea.
In its earliest forms, the name was spelled variations such as Mervilla, Mervile, or Mereville in medieval records from the 11th to 13th centuries. It initially referred to the commune of Merville in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France, first mentioned in texts from the 1080s.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Merville de Carlat, a 12th-century French nobleman and crusader who participated in the Third Crusade alongside Richard the Lionheart. He is recorded in chronicles from the 1190s describing the siege of Acre.
In the 13th century, a Benedictine monk named Merville de Soissons authored a treatise on astronomy and mathematics titled "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), predating the famous work of Copernicus.
During the Hundred Years' War between England and France in the 14th and 15th centuries, a knight named Merville de Montfort fought for the French forces and is mentioned in accounts of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
In the 16th century, Merville de Baugé was a renowned French poet and playwright who wrote several acclaimed works, including the tragedy "La Mort de César" (The Death of Caesar) in 1542.
Moving into the 17th century, Merville de La Salle was a French explorer and fur trader who established trading posts in the Great Lakes region of North America, and is credited with naming the Illinois River in 1679.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the given name Merville, demonstrating its French origins and usage over several centuries across various fields and contexts.
People
Merville + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Merville 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
Merville: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merville?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Merville 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 48,964,905 US residents.
Is Merville a common name?
We classify Merville as "Very Rare". It ranks above 23.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Merville most popular?
The single biggest year for Merville was 1918, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Merville is about 89 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Merville in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Merville a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Merville 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 Merville still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Merville 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 Merville 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Merville?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.