Meaning not yet researched.
Merlene: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 0 in 2025. Its best rank was #723 in 1940.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Fewer than five US girls were given it in 2025. It peaked at #723 in 1940. No US babies were recorded with the name Merlene in 2025.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
Given to fewer than five US girls in 2025; it peaked at #723 in 1940.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Merlene: US girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 0 girls in 2025. Peak: #723 in 1940 · most girls in one year: 93 (1940).
Fewer than five US girls were named Merlene in 2025, so it does not appear in that year’s SSA list for girls. Its best rank for girls was #723, reached in 1940. That year also had the most girls given the name: 93. For comparison, it was unranked (under five girls) in 2015 and #1,313 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Merlene in 66 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1913 with 5 babies. In all, 2,379 US babies have been given the name, all of them girls. Its busiest decade was the 1930s, with 687 babies named Merlene.
In none of the 10 years from 2016 to 2025 were five or more US girls named Merlene.
Related spellings in the SSA files include Marlene (130,932 babies since 1880), Merlin (15,968 babies since 1880) and Merlyn (5,045 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Myrlene, Mearlene and Mirlene are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Rare spellings summarised here: Myrlene (332), Mearlene (7), Mirlene (5).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Merlene in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 5 | #11,533 | — | — |
| 1982 | 6 | #10,003 | — | — |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,293 | — | — |
| 1977 | 7 | #8,090 | — | — |
| 1974 | 6 | #8,339 | — | — |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,451 | — | — |
| 1972 | 7 | #7,017 | — | — |
| 1971 | 7 | #7,090 | — | — |
| 1970 | 12 | #4,673 | — | — |
| 1969 | 13 | #4,098 | — | — |
| 1968 | 5 | #7,779 | — | — |
| 1967 | 14 | #3,595 | — | — |
| 1966 | 19 | #2,908 | — | — |
| 1965 | 19 | #2,892 | — | — |
| 1964 | 15 | #3,466 | — | — |
| 1963 | 19 | #2,930 | — | — |
| 1962 | 22 | #2,642 | — | — |
| 1961 | 25 | #2,450 | — | — |
| 1960 | 30 | #2,133 | — | — |
| 1959 | 40 | #1,751 | — | — |
| 1958 | 40 | #1,719 | — | — |
| 1957 | 36 | #1,830 | — | — |
| 1956 | 37 | #1,753 | — | — |
| 1955 | 49 | #1,456 | — | — |
| 1954 | 41 | #1,597 | — | — |
| 1953 | 48 | #1,420 | — | — |
| 1952 | 44 | #1,466 | — | — |
| 1951 | 48 | #1,353 | — | — |
| 1950 | 49 | #1,313 | — | — |
| 1949 | 47 | #1,349 | — | — |
| 1948 | 56 | #1,217 | — | — |
| 1947 | 49 | #1,307 | — | — |
| 1946 | 75 | #967 | — | — |
| 1945 | 57 | #1,027 | — | — |
| 1944 | 66 | #959 | — | — |
| 1943 | 62 | #1,012 | — | — |
| 1942 | 70 | #941 | — | — |
| 1941 | 57 | #973 | — | — |
| 1940 | 93 | #723 | — | — |
| 1939 | 63 | #886 | — | — |
| 1938 | 83 | #770 | — | — |
| 1937 | 81 | #760 | — | — |
| 1936 | 74 | #790 | — | — |
| 1935 | 79 | #763 | — | — |
| 1934 | 68 | #825 | — | — |
| 1933 | 69 | #804 | — | — |
| 1932 | 62 | #897 | — | — |
| 1931 | 66 | #853 | — | — |
| 1930 | 42 | #1,156 | — | — |
| 1929 | 56 | #966 | — | — |
| 1928 | 54 | #1,023 | — | — |
| 1927 | 29 | #1,545 | — | — |
| 1926 | 30 | #1,503 | — | — |
| 1925 | 25 | #1,732 | — | — |
| 1924 | 37 | #1,345 | — | — |
| 1923 | 24 | #1,761 | — | — |
| 1922 | 18 | #2,162 | — | — |
| 1921 | 19 | #2,093 | — | — |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,434 | — | — |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,727 | — | — |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,344 | — | — |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,977 | — | — |
| 1916 | 12 | #2,607 | — | — |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,676 | — | — |
| 1914 | 7 | #3,078 | — | — |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,532 | — | — |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).