Merit Boy & girl
How popular is Merit?
#3,130 girl name in 2025
51 baby girls were named Merit in the US in 2025, making it the 3130th most popular girl name. Another 22 boys got the name (#4,538 for boys).
Merit popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #3,130 for girls (▲ 4117 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 51 girls, 22 boys |
| 10-year trend | Rising fast (+325% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #8,926 in 2015, #8,948 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 2025 (51 girls) |
| Highest rank | #3,130 in 2025 |
| First recorded | 1965 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 44% boys, 56% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.1% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Merit counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Merritt family of names ranked #588 for girls in 2025 (#1,077 the year before), with 477 babies in all.
| Spelling | Girls in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Merritt | 401 | 84% |
| Merit | 51 | 11% |
| Meritt | 11 | 2% |
| Merrit | 14 | 3% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Merit is most popular
Babies named Merit per 1,000 girls born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Texas: 0.0 per 1,000 (22 girls)
- California: 0.0 per 1,000 (6 girls)
Merit by decade
| Decade | Baby girls | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 11 | #5,816 |
| 1970s | 7 | #6,361 |
| 1980s | 11 | #9,540 |
| 1990s | 5 | #13,139 |
| 2000s | 42 | #10,915 |
| 2010s | 109 | #7,021 |
| 2020s | 131 | #3,130 |
Girl names about as popular as Merit
Questions
- Is Merit a boy or girl name?
- Merit is used for both. Over the last 10 years, 44% of babies named Merit were boys and 56% were girls.
- How popular is the name Merit?
- 51 baby girls were named Merit in the US in 2025, making it the 3130th most popular girl name. Another 22 boys got the name (#4,538 for boys).
- When was Merit most popular?
- Merit peaked in 2025, when 51 girls were given the name. Its highest rank was #3,130 in 2025.
- How many people are named Merit?
- 544 babies have been named Merit in the US since 1880. We estimate about 515 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 8.
- Where is Merit most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Merit was most common in Texas, at 0.0 of every 1,000 girls born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.