Merari
Feminine · “Hebrew merari”
Merari is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,349 girls against 21 boys since 1880.
Naomi renames herself. Returning to Bethlehem widowed and childless she tells the town not to call her Naomi, pleasant, but Mara, bitter, because the Almighty has dealt bitterly with her. It is one of the few places in the Bible where a person changes her own name.
How old is the name Merari?
Merari first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Merari alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,300 people named Merari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Merari most popular?
Merari peaked in 2004, reaching #2526 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 6,931 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From marar to Merari
The story of Merari
The scene is in the first chapter of Ruth. Naomi has lost her husband and both sons in Moab and comes back to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law, and the women of the town recognize her and say, is this Naomi. She answers that they should not call her Naomi, which means pleasant, but Mara, because Shaddai has made her bitter; she went out full and has come back empty. The renaming does not stick, and the narrator goes on calling her Naomi for the rest of the book, which is part of the point: the story is about the emptiness being filled again. Hebrew narrative uses names this way constantly, as a running commentary rather than as labels, and this is the clearest instance of a character taking the device into her own hands.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew merari, bitter
Merari is a Biblical name, the third son of Levi, from a Hebrew root meaning bitter. In Hebrew it is male; in Mexican and Central American usage it is given to women. The same root gives Mara, the name Naomi takes for herself in Ruth, and probably underlies Miriam, though that is disputed. The American peak is 2004.
How the name formed
- marar
- Merari
Related forms: Merari · Merary
Pronouncing Merari
meh-RAH-ree
Three syllables, stress on the second in Spanish. Hebrew stresses the final syllable, meh-rah-REE.
Nicknames for Merari
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
- 1953
- Most girls named
- 200466 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2526reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- −23.1%10 in 2025, from 13
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.
Merari in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Merari in Hebrew — same name
- Merary in Spanish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Meraris among us
people named Merari are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Merari
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Merari
- #9457
- Merari on the 2025 chart
- #940
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Merari went to 10 girls in 2025, but Merary is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 20, which makes it the 940th most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,517 places above the chart.
- Merari10
- Merary10
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 160,727 for Merari itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Katrine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Merari's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Katrine climbed just as high around 1915, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Katrine's path sketches the road Merari is walking now.
Merari sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Merari beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Merari in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three syllables with an even, open rhythm.
- Mera works as a short form.
- It has a documented Biblical source.
- In Hebrew it is a man's name.
- The root meaning is bitter.
- Merary is an equally common Spanish spelling.
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Merari
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Meraris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Merari are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Merari?
- Merari is the most-used spelling in US records — 10 of the 20 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Merary.
- How popular is the name Merari in 2025?
- Merari ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Merari?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Merari — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Merari with classmates?
- Merari will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Merari
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Merari? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Merari and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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