Mery
A feminine name of French origin meaning "wished for child".
Name Census estimates that about 445 living Americans carry the first name Mery. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mery today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mery births was 2023 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mery. 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 Mery with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
445
~ 1 in 770,234 Americans
Peak year
2023
15 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,757
Tracked since 1925
Census
Mery in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,863 people with the first name Mery, which placed it at #5,813 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
#5,813
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,863 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
79.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mery
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mery is Hispanic at 79.4%. The next largest groups are White (11.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.3%). 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 Mery 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 Mery at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino79.4% · 2,273
- White11.4% · 326
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 124
- Black or African American4.3% · 123
- Two or more races0.5% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Popularity
Mery: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mery from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 92 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mery remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mery 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 Mery during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Merys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mery
The name Mery originated from the ancient Egyptian language and culture, with its roots dating back to around 3100 BC. It is believed to be derived from the Egyptian word "meri," which means "beloved" or "loved one." The name was commonly used in ancient Egypt for both men and women.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mery can be found in the Pyramid Texts, a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary inscriptions from the Old Kingdom period (c. 2686-2181 BC). These texts mention individuals with the name Mery, suggesting its widespread use during that time.
In the New Kingdom period (c. 1550-1070 BC), the name Mery appeared in various historical records and documents, including the famous Amarna letters, which were diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian pharaohs and other rulers of the ancient Near East.
One notable individual with the name Mery was Mery-Re, a high official and vizier (chief minister) during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten (c. 1353-1336 BC). Mery-Re's name is inscribed on several monuments and artifacts from that era.
Another famous figure named Mery was Mery-Neith, a prominent Egyptian architect and engineer who lived during the 26th Dynasty (c. 664-525 BC). He is credited with designing and overseeing the construction of several important temples and structures, including the Temple of Neith at Sais.
In the realm of literature, the name Mery appears in various ancient Egyptian texts, such as the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, a Middle Kingdom literary work dating back to around 2000 BC. The protagonist, a peasant named Mery, is depicted as a wise and eloquent individual who seeks justice from the pharaoh.
During the Ptolemaic period (323-30 BC), when Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty of Greek origin, the name Mery continued to be used, albeit with slight variations in spelling, such as "Merytos" or "Merytis."
Other notable individuals with the name Mery include Mery-Tah, a high priest of Amun during the 19th Dynasty (c. 1292-1189 BC), and Mery-Amun, a royal scribe and adviser who served under Pharaoh Ramesses II (c. 1279-1213 BC).
People
Mery + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mery 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
Mery: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mery?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 445 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mery 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 770,234 US residents.
Is Mery a common name?
We classify Mery as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 499 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mery most popular?
The single biggest year for Mery was 2023, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mery is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mery in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,863 people with the name Mery, or 0.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,813 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 Mery 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 Mery?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mery leans strongly female. 2,818 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 43 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Mery?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mery is Hispanic at 79.4%. The next largest groups are White (11.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.3%). 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 Mery most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Mery in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.4% (2,273 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 Mery in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mery a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mery 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 Mery still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mery 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 Mery 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 have Mery as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Mery on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.