Merike is an
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n feminine
given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...
.
The name is derived from the
Estonian language
Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160,0 ...
word ''meri'', meaning "sea", and was first proposed as a given name by the Estonian linguist
Julius Mägiste
Julius Mägiste (born Julius Gustavi Mälson; 19 December 1900 – 11 March 1978) was an Estonian linguist. He was born in Kassema village, Tartu County. In 1923 he graduated from the University of Tartu. Since 1925, he taught at the University of ...
for inclusion on the recommended list of names of the Estonian
Mother Tongue Society
Mother Tongue Society ( et, Emakeele Selts) is an Estonian organization that focuses on topics related to the Estonian language.
The organization was established on 23 March 1920 at Tartu University. Nowadays, the organization is located in Tall ...
(''Emakeele Selts'') in 1929.
As of 1 January 2021, 3,192 women in Estonia have the first name Merike, making it the 37th most popular female name in the country.
The name is most commonly found in
Võru County, where 35.92 per 10,000 inhabitants of the county bear the name.
Individuals bearing the name Merike include:
*
Merike Aarma (born 1950), choir director and music teacher
*
Merike Martinson (born 1940), physician and politician
*
Merike Pau (1941–2008), translator
*
Merike Rõtova (born 1936), chess player
*
Merike Talve
Merike Talve (January 31, 1957 – November 27, 1997) was a Canadian curator, artist and independent writer who lived and worked in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her body of work was centred on Contemporary Artists exhibiting in Vancouver ...
(1957–1997), curator, artist and writer
References
{{Given name
Feminine given names
Estonian feminine given names