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Meri

#10,628 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Meri has been given to 2,502 babies in the U.S. since 1917. In 2025 it ranked #10,628 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1961, with 89 recorded.

Babies named Meri, 2025

1 in 368,000

Meri over time, 1880–2025

Girls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Meri: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Meri means

Meri has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: “sea”.

The naming story behind Meri

One of the source’s documented entries for Meri records a meaning of sea.

Origin, language, and formation

Meri is used in English, Finnish and Māori.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Merida, Meeri and Mary.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Meri is pronounced /ˈmeri/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,502 girls were recorded with the name Meri between 1917 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 89 in 1961; its best national rank was #1,160 in 1955.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #11,782 in 2020 to #10,628 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #12,623 in 2015 to #10,628 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Meri?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 368,000
9 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 179,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#10,628
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
255,323 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Meri sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 255,323 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Meri. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Meris were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Meri was born before 1965 — so the typical Meri is around 60 today.

Median birth year
1965
About 60 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
25.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.6%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,191
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 25.7% of all recorded uses (644).

Is Meri rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−2,353
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,154
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,995
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.13×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
10.1%
Peak was 1961 (89)
Years since peak
64
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
44.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,160
1955

Spellings of Meri

Meri is not the most common spelling — Mary is, with 57.1% against Meri's 0.03%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Meri is used

Across 1910–2025, Meri was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 186,267 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 100,000
  2. 2Illinois1 in 100,000
  3. 3Michigan1 in 100,000
  4. 4New York1 in 100,000
  5. 5Washington1 in 100,000
  6. 6Florida1 in —
  7. 7Georgia1 in —
  8. 8Iowa1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Meri has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Meri around the world

Where Meri ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2008–2025
    #5,927
    in 2025
  • France
    2005–2022
    #6,374
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1958–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Meri

People whose public names include Meri, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Meri in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Meri. Linked forms have their own page here.

MariMaroMaryMeryMariaMerriMariyaMaritsaMarigoMaroula

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Meri by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#10,628
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,154
Best rank ever
#1,160
1955
Peak year
1961
89 that year
First recorded
1917
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,502
Count in 2025
9

Names similar to Meri

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

PeriMeraMerylMeryMerciMerlynMeridaEmeriMernaMerariMerryMercyMerriMerrillMerlinMerrittMerleKateriMerrieMeritMeryemValeriMerynMerary

Names with a curve like Meri

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Meri, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

RanaeTonieMickiLynelleDreamaTrudiNildaDarnellLezlieLoryCaronBeckie

Sibling names for Meri

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Meri

Top names of 1961, Meri's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1955Girls' names starting with MFinnish Girl NamesMāori Girl NamesMāori Names