Merrick
Feminine · “dark-skinned”
Merrick is given to both — 519 girls and 5,792 boys since 1880. See Merrick as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Maurice means Moorish. It began as a Roman byname for someone dark-skinned or North African, and it traveled to Wales, where it became Meurig, and then back into English as Merrick, losing every trace of the description on the way.
How old is the name Merrick?
Merrick first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Merrick alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 500 people named Merrick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Merrick most popular?
Merrick peaked in 2001, reaching #4834 nationally. Today it ranks #6546, 1,712 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Maurus to Merrick
The story of Merrick
Roman naming used ethnic adjectives freely, and Maurus, a Moor, produced Mauricius and thence Maurice, Moritz and Mauricio. Saint Maurice, a third-century Egyptian officer martyred with his legion, is depicted in medieval German art as a Black man, which is unusual and directly reflects the name. Wales took the name as Meurig and built the patronymic ap Meurig, which English clerks wrote as Merrick and Meyrick. American use as a given name is recent and unisex, with the female side reaching its best year in 2001, and the surname route means very few bearers are aware of what the word originally described.
Meaningscholars disagree
dark-skinned, Moorish
The Welsh Meurig is generally taken as the Welsh form of Latin Mauricius, from Maurus, a Moor or North African, used as a descriptive byname. The surname Merrick descends from ap Meurig, son of Meurig. A second derivation takes Merrick from a Scottish hill name. Both produced English families of the name and neither can be assigned generally.
How the name formed
- Maurus
- Mauricius
- Meurig
- ap Meurig
- Merrick
Related forms: Meurig · Meyrick · Maurice
Pronouncing Merrick
MERR-ik
Two syllables with the stress on the first. The Welsh Meurig is MAY-rig, with a diphthong the English form has flattened.
Nicknames for Merrick
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 200124 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4834reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- +6.3%17 in 2025, from 16
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.
Merrick in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Meurig in Welsh — related form
- Meyrick in English — spelling variant
- Maurice in French — related form
Merricks among us
people named Merrick are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 94,545 born in 2025 was named Merrick
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Belem test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Merrick's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Belem climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Belem's path sketches the road Merrick is walking now.
Merrick 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
Merrick beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Merrick in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuine Welsh patronymic with a documented Roman ancestor.
- Fully unisex, which some families count as an advantage.
- Seven letters and no spelling ambiguity once heard.
- It is more common for boys than girls in the United States.
- The original sense is an ethnic description, which is worth knowing.
- A well-known nineteenth-century figure shares the surname.
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What they receive
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Merrick
Feminine · #6546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Merricks are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Merrick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Merrick in 2025?
- Merrick ranks #6546 among US girl names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Merrick?
- About 1 in every 94,545 US girls born in 2025 was named Merrick — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Merrick with classmates?
- Merrick will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Merrick
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseann#6546 · Solveig#6546 · Elona#6546 · Rosette#6546 · Bradie#6546 · Rida#6546 · Gwendalyn#6546 · Lorene#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Merrick? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Merrick and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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