Meredith
Masculine
Meredith is given to both — 4,257 boys and 77,787 girls since 1880. See Meredith as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Maredudd was a Welsh man's name for a thousand years. It belonged to princes of Deheubarth and Powys, it produced one of the commonest Welsh surnames, and it stayed male in Wales the entire time. America moved it across the line in the twentieth century and Britain largely did not, so the same name now reads differently on two sides of an ocean.
How old is the name Meredith?
Meredith first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Meredith alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 1,600 people named Meredith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Meredith most popular?
Meredith peaked in 1941, reaching #579 nationally. See the whole 1941 chart.
Where it comes from
From Maredudd to Meredith
The story of Meredith
A men's name crosses to women by a fairly reliable route: it becomes a surname, the surname gets used as a first name for boys, it sounds soft enough to be given to a girl once, and once it is common for girls it stops being given to boys entirely. Meredith is a textbook case, and the crossing happened in America between the nineteen-twenties and the nineteen-fifties. In Wales, Maredudd remains a man's name and is still given. Both facts are true at the same time, which is unusual and worth knowing.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The second element is generally read as iudd, a lord, which is well attested in Welsh names. The first is not agreed: proposals include a word for great or splendor, and none is demonstrated. Great lord is the usual gloss and it is a reconstruction of half a name. Meredith is the English spelling of Maredudd, and the surname form is Meredydd or Bedward in various renderings; the given name in English use descends from the surname.
How the name formed
- Maredudd
- Meredydd
- Meredith
Related forms: Maredudd
Pronouncing Meredith
MAIR-uh-dith
MAIR-uh-dith, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced. Welsh Maredudd puts the weight on the middle syllable and ends in a sound English does not have, so the two versions are audibly different names.
Nicknames for Meredith
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
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 1920106 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #579reached in 1941
- Change vs 2004
- −37.5%5 in 2011, from 8
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.
Meredith in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maredudd in Welsh — same name
Merediths among us
people named Meredith 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
Meredith 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
- It has a documented thousand-year history as a Welsh princely name.
- Merry, Mer and Edie are three short forms in three quite different registers.
- Three syllables with a firm front stress, which carries a short surname well.
- It works for either child, and in Wales still does.
- In Wales this is a man's name, and Welsh speakers will read it that way whatever an American form says.
- The meaning is only half recoverable, so any gloss offered is a reconstruction.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the last century in America.
- The Welsh spelling and the English one look and sound quite different, which complicates explaining the origin.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Meredith to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Meredith? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Meredith
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Merediths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Meredith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Meredith in 2025?
- Meredith is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Meredith with classmates?
- Meredith 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 Meredith? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Meredith and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle