Merit
Meaning and origin
A rare spelling variant of Märit, variant of Märta, from Margareta.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Merit (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Few babies have been given the name since 1998; it belongs mostly to older generations. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | – |
| 2005 | – |
| 2006 | – |
| 2007 | – |
| 2008 | – |
| 2009 | – |
| 2010 | – |
| 2011 | – |
| 2012 | – |
| 2013 | – |
| 2014 | 3 |
| 2015 | – |
| 2016 | – |
| 2017 | – |
| 2018 | – |
| 2019 | – |
| 2020 | – |
| 2021 | – |
| 2022 | – |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 230 |
| 2000 | 225 |
| 2001 | 224 |
| 2002 | 218 |
| 2003 | 218 |
| 2004 | 217 |
| 2005 | 214 |
| 2006 | 211 |
| 2007 | 207 |
| 2008 | 206 |
| 2009 | 206 |
| 2010 | 205 |
| 2011 | 203 |
| 2012 | 201 |
| 2013 | 197 |
| 2014 | 196 |
| 2015 | 192 |
| 2016 | 190 |
| 2017 | 190 |
| 2018 | 182 |
| 2019 | 182 |
| 2020 | 179 |
Merit in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Merit.Hi! My name is Merit.
- Har du träffat Merit? Hon började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Merit? She started working here on Monday.
- Merit har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Merit has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Merits mamma är lärare.Merit's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Merits mamma is Merit's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Merit
How do you pronounce Merit in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Merit from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Merit mean?
A rare spelling variant of Märit, variant of Märta, from Margareta.
How popular is Merit in Sweden?
Fewer than two babies of either sex were named Merit in 2022. In 2020, 179 people in Sweden had Merit as the first name they go by.
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.