Merriweather Surname

86,950th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 5,538 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
United States

Merriweather Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'merry weather'; a happy, genial, sunshiny fellow; a colloquial expression. Nothing to do with a wether sheep. compare Fairweather, used in exactly a similar sense, and still existing as a surname.

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Merriweather Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States5,4641:66,3367,741
England331:1,688,42669,999
Australia211:1,285,51068,491
Scotland101:535,38220,332
Canada21:18,422,796409,488
France11:66,422,722504,397
Guam11:160,1214,893
Japan11:127,844,29373,547
Mexico11:124,126,205103,776
Panama11:3,912,25817,195
Qatar11:2,357,99976,403
South Africa11:54,177,704343,732
South Korea11:51,240,2568,015
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England211:1,160,73243,748
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States3391:148,13813,775

Merriweather (27) may also be a first name.

Merriweather Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'merry weather'; a happy, genial, sunshiny fellow; a colloquial expression. Nothing to do with a wether sheep. compare Fairweather, used in exactly a similar sense, and still existing as a surname.' Fayre, mery wedur or tyme fayir as wedyr, amenus': Promptorium Parvulorum 'Myryweder, or softe weder, malaria' (ibid). Merry is here used in the sense of pleasant. Way adds a quotation from Vegecius, attributed to Trevisa, Roy. MS. 18 A. xii, where it is observed that wise warriors in olden times used to 'occupie theire foot menne in dedes of armes in the felde in mery wedire,' i.e. fair weather (v. Way's edit. Prompt. Parv). As a surname it occurs, among some other fictitious characters, in one of the Coventry Mysteries, where mention is made of 'Bontyng the Brewster, and Sybyly Sfynge, Megge Mery-wedyr, and Sabine Sprynge.'

Andrew Muriweder, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Thomas Murweder, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

Henry Muriweder. Issues of the Exchequer.

1617. Married — Thomas Church and Francis Merry weather: St. Peter, Cornhill.

1667. John Ferris and Jane Merrywether (Wiltshire): Marriage Alleg. (Canterbury).

A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1896) by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

(English) A gay, blithe or agreeable person.

Dictionary of American Family Names (1956) by Elsdon Coles Smith

Formerly an idiomatic phrase for joy, pleasure, or delight. Halliw. Hence probably applied to a person of hilarious temperament. Fairweather and Fineweather are analogous surnames.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

(found Merywedyr). Halliwell says the word merryweather was formerly an idiomatic phrase for joy, pleasure, or delight. This name is probably from Anglo-Saxon wether, wedder, a ram; Danish, vœder. compare the surnames Fairweather (H.R. Fayrweder), Fearweather, Fineweather, Foulweather, Kieseweather, Starkweather.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

MERYWEDYR: An old spelling of Merryweather. See English Surn. i. 36.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

Merriweather Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Merriweather Come From? nationality or country of origin

The surname Merriweather occurs in The United States more than any other country or territory. It may be rendered as:. Click here for other potential spellings of this last name.

How Common Is The Last Name Merriweather? popularity and diffusion

Merriweather is the 86,950th most widespread surname on a global scale, borne by around 1 in 1,315,917 people. The surname occurs mostly in The Americas, where 99 percent of Merriweather reside; 99 percent reside in North America and 99 percent reside in Anglo-North America. It is also the 2,036,353rd most frequently occurring given name worldwide It is held by 27 people.

This surname is most frequent in The United States, where it is carried by 5,464 people, or 1 in 66,336. In The United States it is mostly concentrated in: Tennessee, where 11 percent reside, Georgia, where 9 percent reside and Missouri, where 8 percent reside. Apart from The United States this surname exists in 12 countries. It also occurs in England, where 1 percent reside and Australia, where 0 percent reside.

Merriweather Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The frequency of Merriweather has changed over time. In The United States the number of people bearing the Merriweather last name increased 1,612 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in England it increased 157 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Merriweather Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those holding the Merriweather last name are 7.19% more likely to be registered with the Democratic Party than the national average, with 60.42% being registered with the political party.

Merriweather earn notably less less than the average income. In United States they earn 18.39% less than the national average, earning $35,216 USD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

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Merriweather Reference & Research

Meriwether DNA Website - A web page dedicated to the genetic research of those who bear the surname and its variants.

Meriwether FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Merriweather
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis