Merritt

Where Merritt comes from

Wiktionary's etymology listing comes up empty for Merritt.

  • From a surname
Merritt through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #403 among boys, with 18 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1899
    Peak, #394
    22 babies named Merritt, its best rank.
  3. 1900
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #1,050.
  4. 1959
    Merritt Butrick born
    American actor
  5. 1980
    Merritt Wever born
    American actress
  6. 2014
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name. From this year on, more girls have.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name.
  • A male given name transferred from the surname, of 19th and 20th century usage.
  • A female given name from surname, of 1970s and later usage.
Namesakes
  • Merritt Wever · American actress, born 1980
  • Merritt Butrick · American actor, 1959–1989
  • Merritt Lyndon Fernald · American botanist, 1873–1950
  • Merritt Patterson · Canadian actress, born 1990
  • Merritt A. Edson · Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient, 1897–1955

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.