Merlin

Where Merlin comes from

From Middle English Merlyn, from Medieval Latin Merlinus and Old French Merlin, from Proto-Brythonic *Mor-ðin (literally “sea-hill”), from Proto-Celtic *mori (“sea”) + *dūnom (“stronghold, rampart”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Merlin
  • 2 syllables
Merlin through the years
  1. 1885
    First appearance
    #836 among boys with 6 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1927
    Peak, #287
    389 babies named Merlin, the most in any year.
  3. 1945
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #437.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name.
Namesakes

No widely recognized namesakes for Merlin in Wikidata.

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.