How Many People Are Named Merlin?
people named Merlin are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 55,144 people in the US has this name
Based on 15,968 babies named Merlin in Social Security records from 1885 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎💎 Very Rare
Peak Year
405 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Form of the Welsh name Myrddin (meaning "sea fortress") used by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his 12th-century Arthurian tales. Writing in Latin, he likely chose the form Merlinus over Merdinus in order to prevent associations with French merde "excrement".
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Same Sound, Other Spellings
These names are pronounced like Merlin in English. Counting Merlin and these spellings together, about 7,983 people alive in the US have the name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Of the babies given the name Merlin, 10.5% were girls and 89.5% were boys. The share of girls among babies named Merlin rose from 4% in the 1900s to 18% in the 2020s. It was highest in the 2000s, at 30.1%.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Merlin alive today is about 51 years old, and 48% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 25 and 74 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Merlin first appears in the records in 1885 and was given most often in 1927, to 405 babies. In 2025, 73 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1885 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Merlin has never been one of the 100 most popular boys' names. Its best rank was #288, in 1927. In 2025 it ranked #2,343.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #2,343 |
| Best rank | #288 (1927) |
| Years in the top 100 | None |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #310 in the 1920s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Merlin alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Merlin were born in Louisiana than in any other state: about 344 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Merlin was given 7 times as often in Iowa, 6.3 times in Wisconsin and 6 times in Utah.
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