Recorded 1885–2025 · United States
Merlin was most popular in 1927, when 405 American babies were given the name — ranking #611 that year. In 2025 it ranked #4,351, with 73 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 15,968 people named Merlin.
Merlin first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1885, which makes it about 140 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 134 of the 141 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 15,968 American births named Merlin 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 6,297 are estimated to be alive today.
73 American babies were named Merlin in 2025, ranking #4,351 that year.
Merlin is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 75 births a year, against 47 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +60% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Merlin is mostly a boy’s name — 5.8% of the 15,968 Americans given it were girls and 94.2% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 18% girls and 82% 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.
Roughly 6,297 Americans named Merlin are alive today — 39% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 59 years old, and half are between 26 and 75. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
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.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Merlin on the interactive charts
About · Privacy · Contact
Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org