Merle
From the French merle, a blackbird, which comes from the Latin merula; it has also served as a short form of Merlin and Muriel.
Merle in 2025
Merle was given to 38 babies in the United States in 2025 — 33 boys and 5 girls, making it the 6,799th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 87,246 babies born.
The history of Merle
Merle reached its highest point in 1921, when 1,275 babies were given the name, ranking 309th that year.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 45,389 babies have been named Merle. Half of them were born before 1930, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Silent Generation.
Merle by decade
| Decade | Babies named Merle | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 370 | 449 |
| 1890s | 1,095 | 360 |
| 1900s | 1,717 | 334 |
| 1910s | 7,465 | 314 |
| 1920s | 11,573 | 309 |
| 1930s | 8,297 | 356 |
| 1940s | 6,341 | 432 |
| 1950s | 4,182 | 623 |
| 1960s | 1,866 | 1,148 |
| 1970s | 1,023 | 1,451 |
| 1980s | 559 | 2,452 |
| 1990s | 315 | 4,791 |
| 2000s | 224 | 7,002 |
| 2010s | 180 | 9,550 |
| 2020s | 182 | 6,639 |
Where Merle is heading
Merle has risen 81% over the past decade, from 21 babies in 2015 to 38 in 2025.
That is less than 5% of its 1921 peak — Merle is now a rare name in the United States.
Names like Merle
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Merle.