Meridith
Feminine · “great lord”
Meridith is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 2,652 girls against 32 boys since 1880.
Meredith is Welsh and both halves of it are argued over. The second element is generally read as lord or ruler; the first has been read as great, as sea and as a word nobody can identify, and Welsh scholars have not settled it in a century of trying.
How old is the name Meridith?
Meridith first appears in US birth records in 1939 — 86 years ago. The typical Meridith alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 2,500 people named Meridith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Meridith most popular?
Meridith peaked in 1971, reaching #1125 nationally. See the whole 1971 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Maredudd to Meridith
The story of Meridith
The name was a man's name in Wales for a thousand years — the last native prince of Deheubarth carried it, and the surname Meredith comes straight from it. Its move to women is American and recent, and Britain did not follow. What that produces is a name that reads as a woman's in one country and a man's in another, which is a live problem for anyone who travels. The i in this spelling is an American respelling of a vowel that carries no stress; Welsh, which spells regularly, would never write it that way.
Meaningscholars disagree
great lord
The second half is reasonably secure. The first is not, and readings connecting it to the sea are attractive and unsupported. This spelling changes the middle vowel, which Welsh writes as an e.
How the name formed
- Maredudd
- Meredith
- Meridith
Related forms: Maredudd
Pronouncing Meridith
MER-uh-dith
Three syllables with the weight at the front. Welsh says the original quite differently, mah-RED-ith, with the stress in the middle.
Nicknames for Meridith
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
- 1939
- Most girls named
- 1971104 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1125reached in 1971
- Change vs 2016
- −14.3%6 in 2021, 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.
Meridith in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maredudd in Welsh — same name
Meridiths among us
people named Meridith 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
Meridith 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 is said correctly at sight by anyone who has met the commoner spelling.
- It carries several short forms with quite different characters.
- It is a genuine Welsh name with a documented history of a thousand years.
- Meredith is the standard spelling and will be written instead.
- In Wales and Britain the name still reads as a man's.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well as girls in the United States.
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Meridith
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Meridiths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Meridith are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Meridith in 2025?
- Meridith is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Meridith with classmates?
- Meridith will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Meridith? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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