Mert
Masculine · “brave”
Mert is Turkish for brave and honorable, and the word came from Persian mard — a man — which came from an older root meaning mortal.
How old is the name Mert?
Mert first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Mert alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 500 people named Mert are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mert most popular?
Mert peaked in 2018, reaching #3446 nationally. Today it ranks #4249, 803 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From mard to Mert
The story of Mert
The Indo-European root behind mard means mortal — a man is one who dies, as against the gods who do not — and it gives Latin mors, Sanskrit mrta and English murder. Persian narrowed it to a man and Turkish borrowed it as an adjective about courage and honesty. Mert is a very well used Turkish men's name and reaches American records with Turkish families.
Meaning
brave, honorable, manly
From Persian mard, a man, borrowed into Turkish as mert with the sense of manly courage and integrity; the Persian word descends from an Indo-Iranian root meaning mortal, the same one behind Latin mors, death.
How the name formed
- mard
- mert
Related forms: Mert · Mard
Pronouncing Mert
MEHRT
One syllable. There is no variation in Turkish.
Nicknames for Mert
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 201832 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3446reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- +71.4%24 in 2025, from 14
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.
Mert in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mert in Turkish — same name
- Mard in Persian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New Jersey, California, New York.
Merts among us
people named Mert are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 71,170 born in 2025 was named Mert
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 Chastin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mert's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Chastin climbed just as high around 1989, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Chastin's path sketches the road Mert is walking now.
Mert 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
Mert beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mert in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely deep Indo-European root behind it.
- Four letters and one syllable — as short as a name gets.
- Very well used in Turkey, so it has a large community behind it.
- It is close to the English word mert or merit in an American ear.
- A one-syllable name gives no room for a nickname.
- It is entirely unfamiliar outside Turkish communities in America.
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What they receive
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Mert
Masculine · #4249 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Merts 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 Mert are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mert in 2025?
- Mert ranks #4249 among US boy names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mert?
- About 1 in every 71,170 US boys born in 2025 was named Mert — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mert with classmates?
- Mert will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mert
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Guadalupe#4249 · Denny#4249 · Hughes#4249 · Erling#4249 · Rodrick#4249 · Elric#4249 · Ron#4249 · Wright#4249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mert? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mert and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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