Meredith

Where Meredith comes from

From Welsh Maredudd (“great lord”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Meredith
  • Welsh
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1895
    First appearance
    #1,426 among girls, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1923
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  3. 1942
    Meredith Monk born
    American musician
  4. 1947
    Meredith Baxter born
    American actress and producer
  5. 1980
    Peak, #140
    2,071 babies named Meredith — more than any year before or since.
  6. 2001
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #324.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Welsh.
  • A female given name from Welsh; sometimes mistaken for a combination of Mary and Edith.
  • A number of places in the United States:
  • An unincorporated community in Pitkin County, Colorado.
  • A township in Cloud County, Kansas.
  • A township in Wake County, North Carolina, mostly occupied by portions of Raleigh.
Namesakes
  • Meredith Baxter · American actress and producer, born 1947
  • Meredith Monk · American musician, born 1942
  • Meredith Brooks · American singer, songwriter, musician and producer, born 1958
  • Meredith Monroe · American actress, born 1969
  • Meredith Vieira · American broadcast journalist and television personality, born 1953

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.