Merce

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Mercè in NL Netherlands, BE Belgium.

Meaning & origin

No verified etymology recorded for this name yet — the entries below are drawn from usage statistics and the name graph.

Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Merce is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name520 records spelled Merce6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain

  Also written Mercè, Mercé, Merçè, Mercê, Merçé

• Chinese given name259 records spelled Merce8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States

  Also written Merc, Mercè, Mercé, Merç, Mercê

• Lao given name253 records spelled Merce14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, Spain, Thailand, United States

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Mercè, เมอร์เซ่, Mercé, Merçé, เมอรเซ

• Hindi given name231 records spelled Merce8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Mercè, Mercé, Mercê, Merçè

• Romanian given name225 records spelled Merce4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Romania

  Also written Mercè, Merçe, Mercé

40 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Merce is also recorded in 6 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, To subject to fine or amercement; to mulct; to amerce.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Italian, goods, wares, merchandise, products, commodities

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In ang, alternative form of mereċe

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Latin, ablative singular of merx

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In pro, mercy; clemency

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Portuguese, merchandise

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

FR INSEE — Fichier des noms de famille (1891–2000) — 11 years between 1891–1991. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Merce Cunninghamb. 1919USAmerican dancer and choreographer (1919–2009)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 64 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Merce?

We estimate roughly 9.6 thousand people bear Merce (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Merce have the most bearers?

We estimate about 9.3 thousand people bear Merce in Spain, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled merce.

How common is Merce compared with other names?

In Spain, Merce is the 389th most common given name of 161,694 given names recorded there.

Is Merce a male or female name?

Merce is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.