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Merwin

Boys' name

Marrow + eminent, through Merfyn

Merwin has been given to 1,630 babies in the U.S. since 1892. 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 1928, with 64 recorded.

Babies named Merwin, 2008

1 in 786,000

Merwin over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Merwin: meaning, origin, and history

Marrow + eminent, through Merfyn

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Merwin means

Merwin belongs to the name family reached through Merwin → Merfyn. Its meaning is “marrow + eminent”.

Origin, language, and formation

Merwin is used in English.

Merwin comes through Welsh Merfyn.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Merfyn.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,625 boys were recorded with the name Merwin between 1892 and 2008. Its highest annual count was 64 in 1928; its best national rank was #823 in 1928.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Merwin between 1928 and 1928. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1928; its best national rank was #5,201 in 1928.

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 Merwin?

Merwin had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2008, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2008
1 in 786,000
5 of 3,930,727 births
Among boys only
1 in 408,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2008
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
544,916 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Merwin 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 2008 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 544,916 children born in 2008 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Merwin. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Merwins were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Merwin was born before 1928 — so the typical Merwin is around 97 today.

Median birth year
1928
About 97 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
32.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
0.62%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
241
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 32.7% of all recorded uses (532).

Is Merwin 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 1928 (64)
Years since peak
97
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
49.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#823
1928

Spellings of Merwin

Merwin is not the most common spelling — Martin is, with 24.7% against Merwin's 0.13%.

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 Merwin is used

Across 1910–2025, Merwin was most concentrated in Iowa — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 290,320 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Iowa1 in 100,000
  2. 2Kansas1 in 100,000
  3. 3Nebraska1 in 100,000
  4. 4New York1 in 100,000
  5. 5California1 in —
  6. 6Connecticut1 in —
  7. 7Illinois1 in —
  8. 8Michigan1 in —

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

Merwin by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#823
1928
Peak year
1928
64 that year
First recorded
1892
Last recorded
2008
All-time count
1,625
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,201
1928
Peak year
1928
5 that year
First recorded
1928
Last recorded
1928
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Merwin

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

MercerMerlynMervynAshwinMerrikKerwinMerrilMerwynMercedMerrickMervinMerrittDerwinMerickMertonMerlinCorwinGodwinMerikMerrellMertAlwinDelwinMercy

Sibling names for Merwin

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 Merwin

Top names of 1928, Merwin's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1928Boys' names starting with M