Genesis 46:11 names him as the youngest son of Levi.
Exodus 6:19 names Merari's sons as Machli (מחלי) and Mushi (מושי).
See also Numbers 26:57.
Given the nature of Levi's role in the priesthood, we can expect the names of his "sons" and "grandsons" to be, in fact, descriptions of their offices, and to reflect genealogically their position in the priestly hierarchy. And so it transpires.
Merari means "bitter" or "unhappy" and is worth noting in connection with Maror (מרור), the bitter herbs of the seder plate which is so central to the Passover story. The same root (Marah - מרה) gives the names of Mir-Yam (Miriam), Mosheh's sister; of Mor-Yah (Moriah), the holy mountain where Av-Raham went to sacrifice Yitschak; of Elon Moreh, the terebinths of Moreh (מרה); and in Christianity the name Mary. All these are epithets of the sea-goddess (whose tears are bitter because they are made of salt), who is herself a manifestation of the great mother Astarte/Asherah/Anat/Eshet/Io/Chava (Eve)/Diana/Athene - or any of the other local names by which she was known.
We can almost certainly conclude from this that the original Merari was a "daughter" not a son, unless it was a male priest serving the goddess. If it was, he would have been a eunuch priest (see my notes to Milkah), which makes his "fathership" of Machli and Mushi even more questionable. However "fatherhood" is to be taken as a priestly term in this instance - as monastic novices refer to the senior abbot as "father", and he to them as "my son" (and actually the word "abbot" was derived from the Yehudit "av" = father, though it is also the Aramaic word for father, and the Greek "abbas" likewise derives from a still-earlier source, probably Hittite; but please don't mention that to the scholars who are now trying to discredit William Jones).
Machli (מחלי) comes from the same root as Machalat (מחלת), which is the name for the women members of the Temple choir and orchestra, who had a very particular role in the funeral rites, especially at the autumn harvest-festival.
The tribe (or more correctly the cultic clan) of Machli is referred to in Numbers 3:33 and 26:58, and in 1 Chronicles 23:23 and 24:30. They are described as being the brother-tribe of Eder (עדר) and Yerimot (ירמות), Eder meaning "the congregation" and Yerimot "the high place"; so again we are reading cultic titles not personal names (imagine the senior executives of the corporation being named John Ceo, Peter Boardlink and Mary Publicrelations, and you have something like the equivalent).
Mushi (מושי) can be read as a variant on Mosheh (משה), which is to say Moses, the political/secular leader, from the root Mashah (משה). This is normally treated as meaning "to draw out", because in the original Egyptian tale Mosheh is an epithet for Osher (Osiris), from the Egyptian word meaning "to draw out". The Yehudit word Mashah however does not have that meaning, though it echoes it in Mashach (משך) which is the Yehudit word for "to draw out". Ezekiel 16:10 uses Mashah to mean "a garment of silk", and Deuteronomy 15:2 has Mashah (משה) meaning "a debt"; this latter is a textual error, however; it should read Nasha (נשה).
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