COMPILED FROM THE FEDERAL REGISTERS, 1880 TO THE PRESENT
THE ENDANGERED NAMES LIST
American first names, tracked to the federal reporting line.

FROM THE REGISTER — CRITICALLY LOW

Merle
A female given name · United States

REPORTED IN 2025: 5 BIRTHS — THE LINE IS 5

Merle (F): reported births per year0100200300400500188019001920194019601980200020202025FEDERAL REPORTING LINE (5)PEAK 442 — 1921
Reported births per year, 1880–2025. The y-axis starts at zero. Years below the reporting line appear as gaps, not zeros.

Twenty straight years below the line, then back with exactly five. The record holds 14,723 of them, 442 in 1921 alone. In 2025 there were 5. The reporting line is five; below it, the record prints nothing at all. It spent 20 straight years below the line (2005–2024) before this year's return.

REGISTER EXTRACT
First reported1880
Last reported2025 — 5 births
Peak1921 — 442 births
Total recorded, 1880–202514,723
Years above the line113 of a possible 146
Longest absence20 years (2005–2024)
Returned2025

Nearby in the register

Millard

Critically Low · 1880–2025 · peak 1922

Willie

Critically Low · 1880–2025 · peak 1919

Eula

Critically Low · 1880–2025 · peak 1919

Myrtle

Critically Low · 1880–2025 · peak 1918

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national names file (1880–2025). Names below 5 occurrences in a year are not reported.

Somewhere, a grandmother is unsurprised.

A collection of THE MUSEUM OF HOPEFUL MACHINES