The rare name Merrial was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 1920:
- 1922: unlisted
- 1921: unlisted
- 1920: 6 baby girls named Merrial [debut]
- 1919: unlisted
- 1918: unlisted
Where did it come from?
My guess is the story “Mice and Men,” which was serialized in various U.S. and Canadian newspapers that year.
The main character was a young American woman, Merrial Houlton — “an amazing wisp of a girl, who was equally at home on the back of a bucking broncho or presiding over the ‘tea things’ in a Boston drawing room” — who had traveled to England to visit her late mother’s family.
The story was written by Katharine Newlin Burt, a prolific author whose novels (mostly Westerns) were published from the 1910s to the 1970s. Originally from New York, Burt spent much of her adult life in Wyoming on her husband’s Bar BC Dude Ranch (which was later incorporated into Grand Teton National Park).
What are your thoughts on the baby name Merrial?
Sources:
- Burt, Katharine Newlin. “Mice and Men.” Rocky Mountain News magazine section, published in weekly installments from 16 May 1920 to 22 Aug. 1920.
- Katharine Newlin Burt – Wikipedia
- SSA
Image: Clipping from the Rocky Mountain News (16 May 1920)
