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Merlin

Gender

Male

Origin

English
Sea fortress. In Arthurian mythology the wizard Merlin was King Arthurs mentor.
French
Falcon

Syllables

2

Themes

  • Arthurian Legend

Alternate Spellings and Variants of Merlin

Pronunciation

m(e)-rlin, mer-lin

Famous People

Football player Merlin Olsen

Popularity in the USA

  • Boys: peak in 1927 (rank #288, 388 births); most recent 2025 (rank #2332, 59 births)
  • Girls: peak in 2003 (rank #4303, 30 births); most recent 2025 (rank #7491, 14 births)
Births by year in the USA
YearBoysGirls
20255914
20247213
20236213
20224911
20217012
20205217
20195310
20185712
20175414
20164011

Top girl names · Top boy names in the USA (2025)

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), national baby names data (public domain). This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SSA. Data years: 1880 to 2025. Original data

Popularity in England and Wales

  • Boys: peak in 2017 (rank #1068, 27 births); most recent 2025 (rank #1796, 14 births)
Births by year in England and Wales
YearBoys
202514
202417
202313
202226
202123
202019
201921
201817
201727
20169

Top girl names · Top boy names in England and Wales (2025)

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Baby names in England and Wales. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data years: 1996 to 2025. Original data · Licence

Popularity in France

  • Boys: peak in 2010 (rank #408, 142 births); most recent 2023 (rank #655, 64 births)
Births by year in France
YearBoys
202364
202283
202177
202088
201988
201876
201771
201670
201574
201476

Top girl names · Top boy names in France (2023)

Source: INSEE, Fichier des prénoms (last updated 8 July 2024), used under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0. Changes: names are shown in title case, and spellings that differ only by accents are counted together. Data years: 1900 to 2023. Original data · Licence