Merlene
Recorded 1913–1984 · United States
Merlene was most popular in 1940, when 93 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,297 that year. It was not recorded in 2025. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 2,379 people named Merlene.
Merlene over time
How old is the name Merlene?
Merlene first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1913, which makes it about 112 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 66 of the 113 years since. It was last recorded in 1984.
How many people are named Merlene?
The Social Security Administration has recorded 2,379 American births named Merlene between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 1,128 are estimated to be alive today.
How many babies were named Merlene in 2025?
Merlene was not recorded in 2025. The SSA withholds any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so fewer than five American babies were given it.
Is Merlene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Across the whole record Merlene is a girl’s name — 100.0% of the 2,379 Americans given it were girls and 0.0% were boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
How old is someone named Merlene?
Roughly 1,128 Americans named Merlene are alive today — 47% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 76 years old, and half are between 68 and 84.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Where Merlene is most concentrated
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
Explore further
See Merlene on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org