The Answer:

Merriam is the last name of Springfield, Mass. book sellers/printers George and Charles. These two brothers founded the G. & C. Merriam Co. in 1831. (It was renamed Merriam-Webster Inc. and incorporated in 1982.)

Upon the death of Noah Webster in 1843, the company bought the rights to publish revisions of the 1841 edition of his An American Dictionary of the English Language, Corrected and Enlarged, and the two names have remained linked ever since.

For more information, see The American Dictionaries of Webster and Others, and Merriam-Webster's company information.

—The Editors