Meaning and history
Merlin is a form of the Welsh name Myrddin used by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his 12th-century chronicle; writing in Latin, he likely chose Merlinus rather than Merdinus to avoid associations with French merde, meaning “excrement.” Geoffrey drew on Myrddin Wyllt, a legendary madman and prophet from the Caledonian Forest, as well as on the historical 5th-century Romano-British military leader Ambrosius Aurelianus, also called Emrys Wledig, and in Geoffrey’s account and later tradition Merlin becomes a magician and adviser to King Arthur.
20062006: 49 births, rank #2,477
2007: 43 births, rank #2,765
2008: 40 births, rank #2,946
2009: 40 births, rank #2,946
2010: 24 births, rank #4,099
20112011: 31 births, rank #3,434
2012: 39 births, rank #2,954
2013: 37 births, rank #2,998
2014: 34 births, rank #3,234
2015: 35 births, rank #3,231
20162016: 40 births, rank #2,935
2017: 54 births, rank #2,388
2018: 57 births, rank #2,325
2019: 53 births, rank #2,491
2020: 52 births, rank #2,467
20212021: 70 births, rank #2,079
2022: 49 births, rank #2,675
2023: 62 births, rank #2,277
2024: 73 births, rank #2,057
20252025: 59 births, rank #2,332
Merlin moved from #891 to #966 for boys between 1969 and 1972. Its highest annual birth count came in 1927, with 389 births.