Merit (spelt this way) is an ancient Egyptian girl’s name. So girl for me. It’s one of my favourites. I don’t like the surname spelling though and don’t see any point in using it when a legitimate first name spelling already exists.
I love the sound of Merit/[name_u]Merritt[/name_u]/[name_f]Marit[/name_f]/[name_f]Meret[/name_f]. The spelling makes the difference for me. [name_u]Merritt[/name_u] looks more masculine but the actual meaning is genderless. Merit is a word/virtue so it’s unisex. [name_f]Marit[/name_f] is feminine (had a classmate with this name). The Egyptian goddess is [name_f]Meret[/name_f]
ETA: To answer the question, I prefer [name_u]Merritt[/name_u] on a boy
I voted boy… but I’m not really fond of the name. [name_m]Merrick[/name_m], sure, or even Merit (though it’s a vague vurtue), but I’m not really feeling it with [name_u]Merritt[/name_u].
I voted girl, because I know of a little girl named [name_u]Merritt[/name_u]. [name_u]Merritt[/name_u] has the same sound as [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_f]Marilyn[/name_f], and [name_f]Maris[/name_f] so to me, the sound is just feminine.