girl's name

Meryl

  • Gender Girl
  • Syllables 2
  • Letters 5
  • Popularity Rare
  • Births on record 9,490

France

#775

2025 births

Meryl is a girl's name with 2 syllables. In 2025 it was given to 12 babies in the United States. It is a rare choice.

  • Peaked in 1956, when 156 babies were given the name.
  • Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
  • Today about 1 in 276,319 babies in the United States is given this name.
  • First appears in US birth records in 1892.
  • 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.

Meryl over time

Births per decade in the United States, 1890s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.

1,327
'90 '00 '10 '20 '30 '40 '50 '60 '70 '80 '90 '00 '10 '20
Show the numbers
Births named Meryl by decade in the United States
Decade Births
1890s 31
1900s 49
1910s 250
1920s 446
1930s 387
1940s 710
1950s 1,327
1960s 626
1970s 199
1980s 663
1990s 335
2000s 203
2010s 263
2020s (to 2025) 110

How popular is Meryl?

In 2025, Meryl was given to 12 babies in the United States. It is a rare choice.

Where Meryl is used

France #775 85 in 2025
Scotland #809 3 in 2024
Ireland #936 3 in 2025
Canada #2,658 7 in 2020
England & Wales #3,814 6 in 2024
United States #8,387 12 in 2025

The bar shows how near the top of each country's list the name sits, on a scale where #1 fills the row and #1,000 is a sliver. The figures beside it are the real rank and the babies recorded that year.

US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.

How Meryl is spelled

Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.

Spelling What it is Births on record
Méryl Méryl is Meryl written with an acute accent, used in France, where it ranks #1,290. 705

Names that peaked alongside Meryl

These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.

Parents who like Meryl also like

Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Meryl over the last century — the same taste, a different name.

Sibling names for Meryl

Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Meryl — the two things that make a sibling set grate.

Common questions about Meryl

How popular is the name Meryl?

In 2025, Meryl was given to 12 babies in the United States. It is a rare choice.

Is Meryl a girl's or a boy's name?

Meryl is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.

How many syllables are in Meryl?

Meryl has 2 syllables.

When was Meryl most popular?

Meryl peaked in 1956, when 156 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.

Is Meryl a good name?

That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Meryl currently ranks #775 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.