Meaning and background
The story behind Merlin
Merlin is the famous magician and adviser in the legends of King Arthur. The name is a Latinised form of Welsh Myrddin, adopted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century, rather than a generic word meaning wizard. It also happens to be an English name for a small falcon, a separate word history. For a dog the literary reference is immediate, with two simple syllables and a well-established mythic character behind it.
- Origin
- Arthurian literary name adapted by Geoffrey of Monmouth from Welsh Myrddin into Latin Merlinus in the twelfth century. Source
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About Merlin
Recorded as a dog’s name
Merlin appears in 22 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/mɝlɪn/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/mɝlɪn/ · primary stress on syllable 1M ER1 L IH0 N
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.