# Mertens

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mertens
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mertens.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mertens
> Source revision: 1352538465
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

For the town in Hill County, Texas, United States, see [Mertens, Texas](/source/Mertens,_Texas). For the mathematical function, see [Mertens function](/source/Mertens_function).

**Mertens** (ˈmɛrtəns) is a [surname](/source/Surname) of [Flemish](/source/Flanders) origin, meaning "son of Merten" ([Martin](/source/Martin_(name))). It is the fifth most common name in [Belgium](/source/Belgium) with 18,518 people in 2008.

## Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 43.4% of all known bearers of the surname *Mertens* were residents of [Germany](/source/Germany) (frequency 1:2,728), 34.8% of [Belgium](/source/Belgium) (1:487), 8.8% of the [United States](/source/United_States) (1:60,847), 5.9% of the [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands) (1:4,188), 1.7% of [France](/source/France) (1:57,632) and 1.0% of [Brazil](/source/Brazil) (1:299,871).

In [Belgium](/source/Belgium), the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:487) only in one region: [Flemish Region](/source/Flemish_Region) (1:367).

In [Germany](/source/Germany), the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:2,728) in the following regions:

- 1. [North Rhine-Westphalia](/source/North_Rhine-Westphalia) (1:970)
- 2. [Saxony-Anhalt](/source/Saxony-Anhalt) (1:1,361)

In the [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands), the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:4,188) in the following provinces:.[1]

- 1. [Limburg](/source/Limburg_(Netherlands)) (1:959)
- 2. [North Brabant](/source/North_Brabant) (1:2,002)

## Noble House of Mertens de Wilmars

- [Charles Mertens de Wilmars](/source/Charles_Mertens_de_Wilmars) (1921–1994), Belgian psychiatrist
- [Josse Mertens de Wilmars](/source/Josse_Mertens_de_Wilmars) (1912–2002), Belgian jurist

## Others

### C

- [Charles Mertens](/source/Charles_Mertens) (1862–1919), Belgian painter, printmaker and illustrator
- [Christian Mertens](/source/Christian_Mertens) (born 1991), German politician
- [Claas Mertens](/source/Claas_Mertens) (born 1992), German rower
- [Conner Mertens](/source/Conner_Mertens) (born ca. 1994), American football player

### D

- [Dries Mertens](/source/Dries_Mertens) (born 1987), Belgian footballer
- [Dylan Mertens](/source/Dylan_Mertens) (born 1995), Dutch footballer

### E

- [Elise Mertens](/source/Elise_Mertens) (born 1995), Belgian tennis player
- [Els Mertens](/source/Els_Mertens) (born 1966), Belgian racing cyclist
- [Ewald Mertens](/source/Ewald_Mertens) (1909–1965), German middle-distance runner

### F

- [Frank Mertens](/source/Frank_Mertens) (born 1961), German keyboardist and composer
- [Franz Mertens](/source/Franz_Mertens) (1840–1927), German mathematician - [Mertens conjecture](/source/Mertens_conjecture), [Mertens function](/source/Mertens_function), [Mertens' theorems](/source/Mertens'_theorems), and [Meissel–Mertens constant](/source/Meissel%E2%80%93Mertens_constant)
- [Franz Carl Mertens](/source/Franz_Carl_Mertens) (1764–1831), German botanist

### G

- [Gregory Mertens](/source/Gregory_Mertens) (1991–2015), Belgian footballer

### H

- [Helmut Mertens](/source/Helmut_Mertens) (1917–1984), German fighter ace

### J

- [Jan Mertens the Younger](/source/Jan_Mertens_the_Younger) (died ca. 1527), South Netherlandish painter
- [Jan Mertens](/source/Jan_Mertens_(cyclist)) (1904–1964), Belgian cyclist.
- [Jan Mertens](/source/Jan_Mertens_(Catholic_People's_Party)) (1916–2000), Dutch politician
- [Jan Mertens](/source/Jan_Mertens_(footballer)) (born 1995), Belgian footballer
- [Jean-François Mertens](/source/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Mertens) (1946–2012), Belgian game theorist known - [Mertens-stable equilibrium](/source/Mertens-stable_equilibrium), [Mertens' voting game](/source/Quasi-perfect_equilibrium#Mertens'_voting_game)
- [Jerry Mertens](/source/Jerry_Mertens) (born 1936), American football cornerback
- [Jim Mertens](/source/Jim_Mertens) (born 1947), American football player
- [John J. Mertens](/source/John_J._Mertens) (1869 – >1924), South Dakota politician
- [Joseph Mertens](/source/Joseph_Mertens) (1921–2007), Belgian archaeologist

### K

- [Karl Heinrich Mertens](/source/Karl_Heinrich_Mertens) (1796–1830), German botanist and naturalist
- [Klaus Mertens](/source/Klaus_Mertens) (born 1949), German bass singer
- [Klaus Mertens](/source/Klaus_Mertens_(artist)) (born 1950), German artist

### L

- [Lennart Mertens](/source/Lennart_Mertens) (born 1992), Belgian footballer
- [Linda Mertens](/source/Linda_Mertens) (born 1978), Belgian singer
- [Lothar Mertens](/source/Lothar_Mertens) (1959–2006), German historian

### M

- [Michael Mertens](/source/Michael_Mertens) (born 1965), German shot putter

### P

- [Peter Mertens](/source/Peter_Mertens) (born 1969), Belgian author and politician
- [Pierre Mertens](/source/Pierre_Mertens) (1939–2025), Belgian-French writer and lawyer
- [Pieter Mertens](/source/Pieter_Mertens) (born 1980), Belgian road bicycle racer
- Peter Mertens (born 1944) Canadian politician
- Paul Mertens (born 1957) Songwriter and creator of Pitti Polak

### R

- [René Mertens](/source/Ren%C3%A9_Mertens) (1922–2014), Belgian racing cyclist
- [Robert Mertens](/source/Robert_Mertens) (1894–1975), German herpetologist - [Mertens' water monitor](/source/Mertens'_water_monitor) - [Robert Mertens's day gecko](/source/Robert_Mertens's_day_gecko)

### S

- [Sibylle Mertens-Schaaffhausen](/source/Sibylle_Mertens-Schaaffhausen) (1797–1857), German art collector and musician
- [Stéphane Mertens](/source/St%C3%A9phane_Mertens) (born 1959), Belgian motorcycle road racer

### T

- [Thomas Mertens](/source/Thomas_Mertens) (*fl.* 1666–1669, Flemish still life painter
- [Tim Mertens](/source/Tim_Mertens) (born 1986), Belgian racing cyclist

### W

- [W. Mertens](/source/W._Mertens) (*fl.* 1650–1675), Flemish still life painter
- [Wim Mertens](/source/Wim_Mertens) (born 1953), Belgian musician

### Y

- [Yannick Mertens](/source/Yannick_Mertens) (born 1987), Belgian tennis player

### Z

- [Zenia Mertens](/source/Zenia_Mertens) (born 2001), Belgian footballer

## Fictional characters

- [Finn Mertens](/source/Finn_Mertens), main protagonist of the American animated television series *[Adventure Time](/source/Adventure_Time)*
- [Martin Mertens](/source/Martin_Mertens), a character who is Finn's Father in the American animated television series *Adventure Time*
- Mertens, the protagonist of the 1998 PlayStation video game *[Colony Wars: Vengeance](/source/Colony_Wars:_Vengeance)*

## See also

- [Mehrtens](/source/Mehrtens)
- [Meertens](/source/Meertens)
- [Merten (name)](/source/Merten_(name))
- [Merten](/source/Merten)

## References

1. [Mertens surname distribution](https://forebears.io/surnames/mertens)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mertens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mertens) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mertens?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.