How Many People Are Named Merit?
An estimated 440 people in the United States have the first name Merit. It is used for both genders, with 56.3% female. The average bearer is 13 years old, and Merit peaked in popularity in 2023 with 37 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Merit as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Merit paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
440
About 1 in 778,987 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Very Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
56.3% confidence
Average Age
13
years old
Peak Year
2023
37 births
Total Registered
471
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Merit
Merit is a genuinely unisex name, used for both males (43.7%) and females (56.3%). Out of 471 total births registered, 206 were male and 265 were female.
Merit as a male name
Ranked #6,338 in 2024
14 male births in 2024
Peak: 2014 (16 births)
Merit as a female name
Ranked #7,446 in 2024
15 female births in 2024
Peak: 2023 (26 births)
Merit: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Merit span from the 1910s to the 2020s, covering 10 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2010s, when 212 babies were registered. While Merit is less common than at its peak in the 2010s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Merit by Decade
How has Merit tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Merit by State
Merit + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Merit as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Merit
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
Merit: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Merit?
We estimate approximately 440 people named Merit are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 778,987 Americans share this first name.
Is Merit a common name?
Merit is classified as "Very Rare" and is more popular than 83.3% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 471 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Merit most popular?
Merit reached peak popularity in 2023, when 37 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Merit is approximately 13 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Merit a female name?
Merit is predominantly female. 56.3% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Merit Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Merit Smith, Merit Johnson, Merit Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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