Merla

Girls' name

Variant of Merle

Merla has been given to 424 babies in the U.S. since 1908. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1949, with 16 recorded.

Babies named Merla, 1966

1 in 695,000

Merla over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Merla: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Merle

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Merla means

Merla is a variant of Merle.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Merla is used in English (Rare).

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈmɜɹ.lə/ and /ˈmɜː.lə/ for Merla.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Merla → Merle → Merle. The family’s meaning is “blackbird”, recorded in French with the source elements merle.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Merle.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 424 girls were recorded with the name Merla between 1908 and 1966. Its highest annual count was 16 in 1949; its best national rank was #2,026 in 1908.

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 Merla?

Merla had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1966, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1966: 1 in 695,000; 5 of 3,475,564 births
Among girls only: 1 in 338,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1966: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 481,817 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Merla 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 1966 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 481,817 children born in 1966 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Merla. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Merlas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Merla was born before 1942 — so the typical Merla is around 83 today.

Median birth year: 1942; About 83 years old
Biggest decade: 1940s; 27.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 51.4%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 117; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1940s — 27.4% of all recorded uses (116).

Is Merla 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1949 (16)
Years since peak: 76; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 34.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,026; 1908

Spellings of Merla

Merla is not the most common spelling — Maria is, with 22.6% against Merla's 0.02%.

Maria22.6%566,111
Ella14.0%351,313
Carla6.0%150,390
Vera6.0%149,456
Karla3.7%91,586
Mila3.4%84,489
Bella3.3%83,721
Della2.8%70,810

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 Merla is used

Across 1910–2025, Merla was most concentrated in Iowa — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 424,912 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Iowa1 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. Merla has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Merla by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,026; 1908
Peak year: 1949; 16 that year
First recorded: 1908
Last recorded: 1966
All-time count: 424
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Merla

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

Merit Meryn Meral Merci Mercie Mery Merary Merryn Mera Meryem Merrin Meron Mercer Merlin Merriam Merrick Merab Merly Merari Merida Meryle Merrit Mertis Merlyn

Sibling names for Merla

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

For a sister

Roseanna Karon Carlotta Roseanne Peggie Delois Janey Kathlyn

For a brother

Donn Lanny Williams Felton Rogers Ivory Artis Galen

Explore around Merla

Top names of 1949, Merla's peak year The 1940s in full Other names that peaked in 1908 Girls' names starting with M