Mercedes
Where Mercedes comes from
From Spanish Mercedes (Mary, Our Lady of Mercy). The car was named for Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek who ordered 36 cars from Gottlieb Daimler.
- Spanish
- 3 syllables
Along the way
- 1880First SSA yearAlready #738 among girls — 6 babies in the first year on record.
- 1916Mercedes McCambridge bornAmerican actress
- 1935Mercedes Sosa bornArgentine singer
- 1991Peak, #1641,798 babies named Mercedes — more than any year before or since.
- 2005The fadeThe first year with half the peak's births — down to #382.
In the dictionary
- A female given name from Spanish, equivalent to English Mercy occasionally borrowed from Spanish.
Namesakes
- Mercedes Sosa · Argentine singer, 1935–2009
- Mercedes McCambridge · American actress, 1916–2004
- Mercedes Ruehl · American actress, born 1948
- Mercedes Moné · American professional wrestler and actress, born 1992
- Mercedes of Orléans · Queen consort of Spain, 1860–1878
Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.