Merritt

Merritt: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“boundary gate”
Origin
English
Say it
MER-it · 2 syllables
Used for
Both (32% girls, 68% boys since 1880)

From an English surname derived from a place-name, often traced to Old English elements meaning a boundary or limit plus gate. It is also used as a transferred given name.

How popular is Merritt?

202473.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Merritt in 2024242

2024 rank#1,406 girls

Peak year1880

Total US babies since 18808,863

Merritt is rising: use over the last five years is 2.5× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Merritt

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Averyruler of elves · English
  • Riverriver · English
  • Sawyerwoodcutter · English
  • TatumTata's homestead · English
  • EmersonEmery's son · English
  • Haydenhay valley · English
  • Sagewise one; sage plant · English
  • Remingtonsettlement by the streambank · English

Merritt questions

What does the name Merritt mean?

Merritt means "boundary gate". It comes from English. From an English surname derived from a place-name, often traced to Old English elements meaning a boundary or limit plus gate. It is also used as a transferred given name.

Is Merritt a boy or girl name?

Merritt is used for both: about 32% of US babies named Merritt since 1880 were girls.

How popular is Merritt?

242 US babies were named Merritt in 2024. Its peak year was 1880.

How do you pronounce Merritt?

Merritt is usually pronounced MER-it.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.