Merlyn

Where Merlyn comes from

Merlyn hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1908
    First appearance
    #1,373 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1910
    Merlyn Evans born
    Welsh painter, printmaker and educator
  3. 1920
    Merlyn Rees born
    British politician
  4. 1931
    Peak, #507
    128 babies named Merlyn — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1944
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #832.
  6. 2014
    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.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Merlyn Rees · British politician, 1920–2006
  • Merlyn Evans · Welsh painter, printmaker and educator, 1910–1973
  • Merlyn Phillips · Canadian ice hockey player, 1896–1978
  • Merlyn Uusküla · Estonian singer and composer, born 1984

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.