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Girl · Latin, through French
Mercy
Say it: MER-see
Meaning
The English word mercy, from Old French merci, from Latin merces 'wages, reward', which came to mean 'pity, grace' in Christian Latin.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Common in colonial New England and revived in recent years.
Its wave through time
Popular now
In the United States
- 9,040 babies given this name since 1881
- At its height in 2019, about 1 in 3,800 girls
- 347 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Mercie
Famous bearers
- Mercy Otis Warren, American Revolutionary writer
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- Colonial records of the Americas
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.