Merlin
Merlin is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 72 births. Its best rank was 288th, in 1927.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 720.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 1927389 births
- Best rank
- #288in 1927
- Since 1885
- 15,891people given the name
The story in the numbers
14,987 boys have been named Merlin in the United States since 1885, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1927, with 389 births.
It is rising: its share of births is at least one and a half times what it was ten years ago.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1938, and the 1920s alone account for 22%. It has spent 76 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 904 girls have also been given it, 5.7% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Merlin | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 14 | |
| 1890s | 42 | |
| 1900s | 145 | |
| 1910s | 1,492 | |
| 1920s | 3,322 | |
| 1930s | 2,963 | |
| 1940s | 2,060 | |
| 1950s | 1,574 | |
| 1960s | 894 | |
| 1970s | 533 | |
| 1980s | 407 | |
| 1990s | 391 | |
| 2000s | 442 | |
| 2010s | 403 | |
| 2020s | 305 |
In 1927, its biggest year
Merlin was the 288th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1927 were Robert, John, James, William and Charles. See all of 1927.
Names that rose and fell with Merlin
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Eldonpeak 1926
- Lavernpeak 1924
- Winfordpeak 1928
- Arlandpeak 1935
- Delmerpeak 1924
- Norbertpeak 1924
- Carrolpeak 1930
- Verlinpeak 1929
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.