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 [ 3 syll. mer-ce-des, me-rced-es ] The girl name Mercedes is pronounced as MerSEYDiyZ KEY. Mercedes is used predominantly in Basque, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. It is derived from Latin origins. The name is derived from the Spanish 'merced' (mercy, grace), and ultimately from the Latin 'mercedes' (ransom, wage), with the association of Christ's crucifixion as a 'ransom' or 'wage' for the sins of man. The term is known from the Catholic holiday 'Maria de mercede redemptionis captivum' meaning 'Mary of the mercy to redeem the captives', and the subsequent Spanish liturgical title 'Maria de las Mercedes' meaning 'Mary of the Mercies'. Traditionally, Maria was considered too sacred to use, therefore girls were often christened with other associated names. The name has therefore been popular among Roman Catholics, especially in Spain and the USA. In modern times, the name is usually associated with the Mercedes Benz car, which was named after Mércédès Jellinek (1889-1929), the daughter of one of the company's key executives. The name Mercede (Italian) is a variant form of Mercedes. The short forms Merche (Spanish), Mercy (English), and Sadie (English), and the spelling variant Mercedez (English) are other forms of the name. Mercedes is rather popular as a baby girl name. The name's popularity increased from the 1940s up to the 1990s. Its usage peaked in 1993 with 0.090% of baby girls being named Mercedes. It was #171 in rank then. The baby name has slipped in popularity since then. In 2008, its usage was 0.028% and its ranking #528. Among the family of girl names directly related to Mercedes, Sadie (English) was the most commonly used. In 2008, it was 5 times more widely used than Mercedes. A baby name that sounds like Mercedes is the name Mercedez (English). KEY: Pronunciation for Mercedes: M as in "me (M.IY)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; Z as in "zee (Z.IY)"   |
