Mearl
Masculine · “Blackbird”
Mearl is given to both — 1,210 boys and 428 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Mearl writes with ea the vowel that Merle writes with er, and in American speech they are the same sound. The name comes from the French word for a blackbird, which is a bird worth knowing about: no two males sing the same phrases, and each one makes his up as he goes.
How old is the name Mearl?
Mearl first appears in US birth records in 1894 — 131 years ago. The typical Mearl alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 300 people named Mearl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mearl most popular?
Mearl peaked in 1909, reaching #653 nationally. See the whole 1909 chart.
Where it comes from
From merula to Mearl
The story of Mearl
Blackbird song is improvised. Unlike birds that repeat a fixed pattern, a male blackbird strings together phrases he invents, borrows and modifies, so that recordings of two neighboring birds share almost nothing; researchers who have cataloged individual repertoires find hundreds of distinct motifs per bird and very little overlap. They also learn from each other, which means a neighborhood develops a local accent over a season. A bird singing on a chimney in April is composing rather than reciting, which is the reason the song sounds unlike almost anything else in a European garden and the reason poets keep going back to it. The French named a name after the bird; nobody named the bird after anybody.
Meaning
Blackbird
French merle, from Latin merula, the European blackbird. The word was taken whole as a name, which French does more readily than English does. This spelling writes the vowel differently and changes nothing; ea and er before a consonant have collapsed into the same sound for most American speakers.
How the name formed
- merula
- merle
- Mearl
Related forms: Merle
Pronouncing Mearl
MURL
One syllable. The vowel is the neutral r-colored one that English uses in bird, herd and word alike, which is why it can be written with an ea, an e or a u without any difference in sound.
Nicknames for Mearl
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1894
- Most boys named
- 191837 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #653reached in 1909
- Change vs 1975
- −14.3%6 in 1977, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mearl in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Merle in French — same name
Mearls among us
people named Mearl are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Mearl sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable, five letters, and no ambiguity about how it is said.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- The bird behind it is real, common and easy to point at.
- Merle is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- The record carries it for girls as well as boys, so it signals nothing on a form.
- It is strongly dated to the turn of the last century in American records.
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What they receive
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Mearl
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Mearls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Mearl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mearl in 2025?
- Mearl is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Mearl with classmates?
- Mearl will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Michael#21 · Matthew#32 · Mark#244 · Mason#39 · Martin#335 · Marvin#699 · Melvin#958 · Marcus#258
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mearl? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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