First Name
45k
in the U.S.
since 1880
Last Name
1k
in the U.S.
in 2010
Girls
Boys
On This Page
  1. Related Names
  2. Pronunciation
  3. Meanings and Origins
  4. Notable Persons Named Merle
  5. Notable Persons With the Last Name Merle
  6. Popularity by Year and Gender
  7. Regional Popularity
  8. Ethnicity Distribution
  9. Fun Facts
  10. What Merles Have Visited This Page?
  11. Name Poster

How to Pronounce Merle

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Meaning and Origin

What does the name Merle mean? Find out below.

Origin and Meaning of Merle

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Other Dictionary Sources
  1. Common black European thrush
    Synonyms: blackbird, european blackbird, merl, ousel, ouzel, and turdus merula
Wiktionary

From the taxonomic name; from Latin turdus (“thrush”) and merula (“blackbird”), giving rise to the French merle, from Proto-Indo-European *ams- (“black, blackbird”), see also Breton moualch (“ouzel”), Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird, thrush”), English ouzel

  1. The Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula.
  2. Any blackbird.

    merle was also found in the following language(s): French and Italian

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    Notable Persons Named Merle

    Merle Haggard

    Merle Haggard is a country music, western (genre), outlaw country, and bakersfield sound musician. He plays Fender Telecaster. He was most active from 1963 to present. Merle was given the name Merle Ronald Haggard on April 6th, 1937 in Oildale, California, U.S. Merle is also known as Hag.

    Popularity:
    Merle Oberon

    Merle Oberon was an actress. Her career lasted from 1928 to 1973. Merle was given the name Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson on February 19th, 1911 in Mumbai. She left this life on November 23rd, 1979.

    Popularity:
    Troy Donahue

    Troy Donahue was an actor and singer. His most notable accomplishments were from 1957 to 2000. Troy was given the name Merle Johnson, Jr. on January 27th, 1936 in New York City, New York, U.S. He breathed his last breath on September 2nd, 2001.

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    Merle Dandridge

    Merle Dandridge is an actress. She has had major accomplishments since 1994. Merle was born on May 31st, 1975 in Okinawa Prefecture.

    Popularity:
    Merle Dixon

    Popularity:
    Merle Travis

    Merle Travis was a country music, western swing, blues, american folk music revival, gospel music, and americana (music) musician. He has had major accomplishments since 1936. Merle was given the name Merle Robert Travis on November 29th, 1917 in Rosewood, Kentucky US. He died on October 20th, 1983.

    Popularity:
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    Notable Persons With the Last Name Merle

    Robert Merle

    Robert Merle was a novelist. Robert was born on August 28th, 1908 in Tébessa. He died on March 27th, 2004.

    Popularity:
    Hugues Merle

    Hugues Merle was a in the field of painting. Hugues was born in 1823 in Saint Martin, France. He breathed his last breath in 1881.

    Popularity:
    Frigide Barjot

    Frigide Barjot is an activist. Frigide was given the name Virginie Merle on September 25th, 1962 in Boulogne-Billancourt.

    Popularity:
    Matthew C. Le Merle

    Matthew C. Le Merle is an investor, advisor, and investorand advisor. He holds the title Managing Partner of Fifth Era and Keiretsu Capital. Matthew was born on January 18th, 1962.

    Popularity:
    Frank Merle

    Frank was born on November 22nd, 1962.

    Popularity:
    Carole Merle

    Carole was born on January 24th, 1964.

    Popularity:
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    How popular is the baby name Merle in the U.S.?

    Click Here to Show Chart Data
    Year Total Babies Born Girls Born Boys Born
    1880 23 6 17
    1881 19 6 13
    1882 24 11 13
    1883 38 15 23
    1884 35 16 19
    1885 42 16 26
    1886 36 14 22
    1887 36 12 24
    1888 40 25 15
    1889 77 42 35
    1890 94 68 26
    1891 80 46 34
    1892 98 60 38
    1893 88 61 27
    1894 108 70 38
    1895 137 91 46
    1896 130 86 44
    1897 104 70 34
    1898 126 77 49
    1899 130 88 42
    1900 167 113 54
    1901 143 91 52
    1902 170 112 58
    1903 181 112 69
    1904 145 92 53
    1905 169 110 59
    1906 156 84 72
    1907 194 112 82
    1908 196 120 76
    1909 196 120 76
    1910 238 138 100
    1911 266 151 115
    1912 489 221 268
    1913 563 232 331
    1914 662 247 415
    1915 948 353 595
    1916 977 373 604
    1917 1,060 359 701
    1918 1,171 376 795
    1919 1,091 370 721
    1920 1,223 403 820
    1921 1,275 442 833
    1922 1,229 394 835
    1923 1,184 409 775
    1924 1,166 383 783
    1925 1,239 404 835
    1926 1,127 340 787
    1927 1,119 311 808
    1928 1,056 293 763
    1929 955 224 731
    1930 949 237 712
    1931 874 213 661
    1932 793 200 593
    1933 756 183 573
    1934 811 212 599
    1935 791 270 521
    1936 909 341 568
    1937 820 302 518
    1938 789 264 525
    1939 804 275 529
    1940 704 237 467
    1941 707 225 482
    1942 716 274 442
    1943 679 231 448
    1944 630 239 391
    1945 579 206 373
    1946 612 206 406
    1947 595 203 392
    1948 611 179 432
    1949 507 153 354
    1950 536 141 395
    1951 504 136 368
    1952 474 134 340
    1953 448 123 325
    1954 442 137 305
    1955 405 114 291
    1956 397 107 290
    1957 343 89 254
    1958 325 94 231
    1959 304 75 229
    1960 238 62 176
    1961 234 58 176
    1962 233 53 180
    1963 234 47 187
    1964 204 38 166
    1965 183 24 159
    1966 145 24 121
    1967 110 19 91
    1968 157 21 136
    1969 128 17 111
    1970 149 18 131
    1971 167 10 157
    1972 125 13 112
    1973 106 13 93
    1974 87 9 78
    1975 81 8 73
    1976 70 5 65
    1977 80 0 80
    1978 71 11 60
    1979 87 7 80
    1980 64 5 59
    1981 80 13 67
    1982 65 8 57
    1983 65 0 65
    1984 57 6 51
    1985 49 0 49
    1986 41 6 35
    1987 49 6 43
    1988 48 0 48
    1989 41 13 28
    1990 33 0 33
    1991 37 5 32
    1992 39 6 33
    1993 40 6 34
    1994 26 0 26
    1995 41 6 35
    1996 28 0 28
    1997 27 0 27
    1998 20 0 20
    1999 22 0 22
    2000 25 0 25
    2001 29 0 29
    2002 13 0 13
    2003 27 5 22
    2004 25 5 20
    2005 18 0 18
    2006 25 0 25
    2007 16 0 16
    2008 19 0 19
    2009 22 0 22
    2010 22 0 22
    2011 18 0 18
    2012 8 0 8
    2013 15 0 15
    2014 15 0 15
    2015 20 0 20
    2016 14 0 14
    2017 20 0 20
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    Where is the name Merle popular?

    View popular names by state or region.

    Popularity of Merle as a first name

    The map shows the relative popularity of the name Merle as a first name in each of the states. See other popular names in South Dakota, Iowa, or Nebraska.

    Popularity of Merle as a last name

    The map shows the absolute popularity of the name Merle as a last name in each of the states. See other popular names in New York, Illinois, or Michigan.

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    Common last names for Merle

    • Smith
    • Johnson
    • Miller
    • Brown
    • Jones
    • Davis
    • Williams
    • Wilson
    • Anderson
    • Thompson
    • Moore
    • Clark
    • Baker
    • Taylor
    • Nelson
    • Walker
    • Martin
    • Young
    • Thomas
    • Allen

    Common first names for Merle

    Ethnicity Distribution

    Ethnicity Merle U.S.
    â–ˆ  White 80.34% 64.26%
    â–ˆ  African American 3.07% 11.96%
    â–ˆ  Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander 2.30% 4.85%
    â–ˆ  American Indian and Alaska Native 0.00% 0.69%
    â–ˆ  Two or More Ethnicities 0.00% 1.76%
    â–ˆ  Hispanic or Latino 12.98% 16.26%

    Of Last Name Merle

    People with the last name Merle are most frequently White or Hispanic or Latino

    Entire United States

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    Fun Facts about the name Merle

    • What name lists does Merle rank for?
      #67Old-Fashioned Boy Names
      #116Unisex Names
    • How Popular is the name Merle? Merle is the 1,066th most popular name of all time. As a last name Merle was the 20,408th most popular name in 2010.
    • How many people with the first name Merle have been born in the United States? From 1880 to 2017, the Social Security Administration has recorded 45,146 babies born with the first name Merle in the United States. That's more than enough people named Merle to occupy the territory of Turks and Caicos Islands (United Kingdom) with an estimated population of 44,493 (as of July 1, 2012).
    • What year were 5 or more babies first named Merle? The name was first given to 5 or more babies in the year 1880 when it was given as a first name to 23 new born babies.
    • When was Merle first recorded in the United States? The oldest recorded birth by the Social Security Administration for the first name Merle is Thursday, June 29th, 1871.
    • What year had the most people named Merle born? The highest recorded use of the first name Merle was in 1922 with a total of 835 babies.
    • Random Merle Factoid: According to the 1926 U.S. Social Security Administration data, the first name Merle ranks 78th in popularity as a baby boy's name in Kansas. Imagine that, 46 babies in Kansas have the same name as you in 1926.
    • Weird things about the name Merle: Your name in reverse order is Elrem. A random rearrangement of the letters in your name (anagram) will give Rmlee. How do you pronounce that?
    • How many people have the last name Merle? In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau surveyed 1,302 people with the last name Merle.
    • How likely are you to meet someone with the last name of Merle? Chances are, most people haven't met someone with Merle as their last name since less than 1 person in 227k people have that last name. If you know one, consider yourself lucky!
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    What Merles Have Visited This Page?

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    Name poster for Merle

    Name poster for Merle(click to save the high quality version)

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    All Name Lists

    • Sources:
    • U.S. Census Bureau: Frequently Occurring Surnames from the Census 2000 (public domain).
    • U.S. Social Security Administration: Popular Baby Names, Death Master File (public domain).
    • Other Dictionary Sources: WordNet 3.1 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University (License).
    • Wiktionary: Titles and License.
    • Notable persons via Wikipedia: Titles and License. Click each image for the attribution information.