Merriam
#16,472 in 2025Girls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Merriam has been given to 351 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #16,472 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1922, with 16 recorded.
Babies named Merriam, 2025
1 in 663,000
Merriam over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Merriam?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 663,000
- 5 of 3,315,165 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 321,000
- <0.01% of girls
- Rank, 2025
- #16,472
- of 17,293 girls’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 459,581 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Merriam sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Merriam. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Merriams were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Merriam was born before 1932 — so the typical Merriam is around 93 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1920s
- 27.4% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 6.3%
- Mostly a past generation
- Recorded since 1950
- 64
- People you could plausibly meet
1920s — 27.4% of all recorded uses (96).
Is Merriam 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
- 31.3%
- Peak was 1922 (16)
- Years since peak
- 103
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Shifting
- 19.9% average annual change
Spellings of Merriam
Merriam is not the most common spelling — Miriam is, with 75.2% against Merriam's 0.22%.
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.
Merriam by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
Names similar to Merriam
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Merriam
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.