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Mervin

#2,377 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly marrow, through Mervyn

Mervin has been given to 12,360 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,377 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1920, with 249 recorded.

Babies named Mervin, 2025

1 in 57,200

Mervin over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mervin: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly marrow, through Mervyn

Welsh

What Mervin means

Mervin belongs to the name family reached through Mervin → Mervyn. Its meaning is “marrow”.

Origin, language, and formation

Mervin is used in English. Its origins include Welsh.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Mervyn.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 12,322 boys were recorded with the name Mervin between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 249 in 1920; its best national rank was #377 in 1920.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,340 in 2020 to #2,377 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,511 in 2015 to #2,377 in 2025.

In the United States, 38 girls were recorded with the name Mervin between 1919 and 1935. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1919; its best national rank was #3,696 in 1919.

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 Mervin?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 57,200
58 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 29,400
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,377
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
39,620 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mervin sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 39,620 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mervin. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Mervins were born

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

Median birth year
1942
About 83 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
18.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
5,187
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 18.0% of all recorded uses (2,216).

Is Mervin 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
+35
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−37
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+134
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.16×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
23.3%
Peak was 1920 (249)
Years since peak
105
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#377
1920

Spellings of Mervin

Mervin is not the most common spelling — Kevin is, with 47.7% against Mervin's 0.50%.

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 Mervin is used

Across 1910–2025, Mervin was most concentrated in Pennsylvania — about 1 in 4,762 boys, against 1 in 20,428 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in —).

021 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Pennsylvania1 in 4,762
  2. 2Iowa1 in 5,000
  3. 3Louisiana1 in 5,882
  4. 4Nebraska1 in 6,250
  5. 5Indiana1 in 8,333
  6. 6South Dakota1 in 9,091
  7. 7Ohio1 in 10,000
  8. 8North Dakota1 in 11,111

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Mervin has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Mervin around the world

Where Mervin 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
    2002–2020
    #3,334
    in 2020
  • Ireland
    1969–1980
    #321
    in 1980
  • France
    1988–2021
    #6,718
    in 2021
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1945–2008
    #726
    in 2008

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

Notable people named Mervin

People whose public names include Mervin, 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.

Mervin by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,377
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 37
Best rank ever
#377
1920
Peak year
1920
249 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
12,322
Count in 2025
58

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,696
1919
Peak year
1919
8 that year
First recorded
1919
Last recorded
1935
All-time count
38
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Mervin

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

MerlinMerrillMerlynMerrittMerrickMerleKalvinTevinDelvinDavinMercerTrevinMertonDarvinElvinNevinKelvinArvinErvinIrvinDalvinMerwinMervynSelvin

Names with a curve like Mervin

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

BasilHershelWeldonFreemanEveretteOdellArmandWiltonLenardMerrillCarmenDelmar

Sibling names for Mervin

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 Mervin

Top names of 1920, Mervin's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1920Boys' names starting with MWelsh Boy NamesWelsh Names