Meryle
A French feminine name derived from the word "merle" meaning "blackbird".
Name Census estimates that about 114 living Americans carry the first name Meryle. It is a predominantly female name (92.5% of registrations). The average person named Meryle today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meryle births was 1924 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meryle. 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 Meryle is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Meryles were born before 1959.
People living today
114
~ 1 in 3,006,617 Americans
Peak year
1924
18 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1946 SSA rank
#3,845
Tracked since 1907
Census
Meryle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 262 people with the first name Meryle, which placed it at #32,242 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
#32,242
National first-name rank
People counted
262
262 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meryle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meryle is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.1%). 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 Meryle 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 Meryle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.1% · 223
- Black or African American5.7% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 5
- Two or more races1.9% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Meryle
Meryle leans heavily female at 92.5% of total registrations, but 32 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Meryle as a male name
- Ranked #3,845 in 1946
- 5 male births in 1946
- Peak: 1931 (6 births)
Meryle as a female name
- Ranked #5,703 in 1963
- 7 female births in 1963
- Peak: 1924 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meryle leans strongly female. 218 people counted with this name were female (83.8%), compared with 42 male bearers (16.2%).
Popularity
Meryle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meryle from the 1900s through to the 1960s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 103 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meryle 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 Meryle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meryles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Meryle
The given name Meryle has its origins in the French language, originating sometime around the 12th century. It is believed to be a variant spelling of the name Meriel, which itself is derived from the Latin name Maria. Maria, in turn, is a feminine form of the Hebrew name Miryam, which means "bitterness" or "beloved lady."
In its earliest recorded use, Meryle was primarily found in regions of northern France and parts of England that were under French influence during the Middle Ages. The name may have been introduced to England during the Norman Conquest of 1066, when many French names and words were integrated into the English language.
While there are no direct references to the name Meryle in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its connection to the name Maria suggests a possible link to the biblical figure of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. However, this is speculative, and the name's precise origins remain somewhat obscure.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Meryle was Meryle de Beaumont, a 12th-century French noblewoman who lived in the region of Normandy. Another notable figure was Meryle de Vere, an English baroness who lived in the 13th century and was a member of the influential de Vere family.
In the 14th century, a woman named Meryle de Clifford was recorded as being a member of the Clifford family, a prominent English noble house. During the same period, a Meryle de Neville was mentioned in historical records as part of the powerful Neville family, which played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses.
In the 16th century, a woman named Meryle Boleyn was a distant relative of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England. Meryle Boleyn was a minor figure in the Tudor court and is mentioned in some contemporary accounts of the time.
While the name Meryle has fallen into relative obscurity in modern times, its rich history and connections to influential families and individuals in medieval Europe make it a fascinating example of the evolution and endurance of certain given names over centuries.
People
Meryle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meryle 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
Meryle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meryle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 114 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meryle 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 3,006,617 US residents.
Is Meryle a common name?
We classify Meryle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 429 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meryle most popular?
The single biggest year for Meryle was 1924, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meryle is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meryle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 262 people with the name Meryle, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,242 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 Meryle 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 Meryle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meryle leans strongly female. 218 people counted with this name were female (83.8%), compared with 42 male bearers (16.2%). 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 Meryle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meryle is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.1%). 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 Meryle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meryle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (223 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 Meryle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meryle a female name?
Yes, 92.5% of people registered as Meryle 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 Meryle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meryle 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 Meryle 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 called Meryle?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.