Merle
Merle is a unisex given name: about 60% of people named Merle are men and 40% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.
This name is used for both men and women without a strong lean either way.
- Verdict
- Unisex
- Male / female split
- 60% male / 40% female
- Confidence
- High (64 or more weighted country observations)
- Most common in
- United States, Estonia, Great Britain
- US births since 1880
- 30,430 male / 14,716 female
- Data
- nam_dict (GFDL) + US SSA
- Updated
- 2026-09-11
How to address Merle
To address Merle when you do not know their gender, use the full name with no title: "Dear Merle," in English, "Guten Tag Merle," in German. About 60% of people named Merle are men and 40% are women, so a gendered salutation is close to a coin flip, and the neutral form above is the safer choice.
Ready-made greetings in six languages
English
Dear Merle,
German
Guten Tag Merle,
French
Bonjour Merle,
Spanish
Estimado/a Merle:
Chinese
Merle您好：
Japanese
Merle様
English
Hi Merle,
German
Hi Merle,
French
Salut Merle,
Spanish
Hola Merle,
Chinese
Merle你好：
Japanese
Merleさん
This is a statistical estimate, not a statement about the gender, identity or correct form of address of any particular person.
Country breakdown
| Country | How common | Usually | Male share |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | very common | man's name | 67% |
| Estonia | common | woman's name | 2% |
| Great Britain | rare | man's name | 75% |
United States birth data
30,430 male · 14,716 female · 45,146 births recorded
Since 1980: 93% male.
Frequently asked questions
Is Merle a male or female name?
Merle is a unisex given name: about 60% of people named Merle are men and 40% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.
How do I address Merle in an email?
To address Merle when you do not know their gender, use the full name with no title: "Dear Merle," in English, "Guten Tag Merle," in German. About 60% of people named Merle are men and 40% are women, so a gendered salutation is close to a coin flip, and the neutral form above is the safer choice.
Is Merle a unisex name?
Merle is a unisex name: 60% of people named Merle are men. The split stays close across most of the countries in the data.
Related names
Sources
Gender by country: nam_dict, the c't first-names dictionary by Joerg Michael, roughly 44,000 names across 55 countries, licensed GFDL. US frequencies: United States Social Security Administration baby-name data, public domain. Method: how we classify names. Full dataset: data & licences. Data built 2026-09-11.
DearWho, "Is Merle a male or female name?", https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/merle (accessed 2026-09-11). Data: nam_dict (J. Michael, GFDL) and US SSA, built 2026-09-11.
BibTeX
@misc{dearwho_merle,
title = {Is Merle a male or female name?},
author = {{DearWho}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/merle},
note = {Data: nam_dict (GFDL), US SSA public domain}
}