Meritaten, also spelled Merytaten, Meritaton or Meryetaten (Ancient Egyptian: mrii.t-itn) (14th century BC), was an ancient Egyptian royal woman of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Her name means "She who is beloved of Aten"; Aten being the sun-deity whom her father, Pharaoh Akhenaten, worshipped. She held several titles, performing official roles for her father and becoming the Great Royal Wife to Pharaoh Smenkhkare, who may have been a brother or son of Akhenaten. Meritaten also may have served as pharaoh in her own right under the name Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten.

Meritaten was the first of six daughters born to Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife, Nefertiti. Her sisters are Meketaten, Ankhesenpaaten, Neferneferuaten Tasherit, Neferneferure, and Setepenre. Meritaten is mentioned in diplomatic letters, by the name Mayati. She is mentioned in a letter from Abimilki of Tyre. The reference usually is thought to date to the period when Meritaten's position at court became more important, during the latter part of the reign of Akhenaten. It is possible, however, that the letter refers to the birth of Meritaten.

She was married to Akhenaten's successor, the Pharaoh Smenkhkare.

Inscriptions mention a young princess named Meritaten Tasherit, who may be the daughter of Meritaten and Smenkhkare. Inscriptions from Ashmunein suggest that Meritaten-tasherit is the daughter of Meritaten. The scene dates to the reign of Akhenaten, and this means the father of the young princess could be Akhenaten. If so, this means Akhenaten took his own daughters as wives. Another princess named Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit had been suggested as an additional daughter of Meritaten, but it is more likely that she is a daughter of Ankhesenpaaten.

Meritaten most likely was born in Thebes, early in her father's marriage to Nefertiti, perhaps before he assumed the throne, as she is shown officiating during year five of his reign. The royal family first lived in Thebes and the royal palace may have been part of the Temple Complex of Akhenaten at Karnak. The exact use of the buildings in Karnak is not known, but the scenes decorating the Teni-menu suggest it may have served as a residence. Meritaten is depicted beside her mother Nefertiti in reliefs carved into the Hut-Benben. The Hut-Benben was a structure associated with Nefertiti, who is the main officiant in the scenes, the great royal wife being the highest priestess. Meritaten appears behind her mother shaking a sistrum. Her younger sisters Meketaten and Ankhesenpaaten also appear in some of the scenes, but not so often as Meritaten.

In year five of her father Akhenaten's reign, Meritaten appears on the boundary stelae designating the boundaries of the new capital to which her father moved the royal family and his administrators. During Akhenaten's reign, she was the most frequently depicted and mentioned of the six daughters. Her figure appears on paintings in temples, tombs, and private chapels. Not only is she shown among images showing the family life of the pharaoh, which were typical of the Amarna Period, but on those depicting official ceremonies, as well.

The two structures most associated with Meritaten at Amarna are the Northern Palace and the Maru-Aten. The Maru-Aten was located to the south of the city limits of Amarna. The structure consisted of two enclosures containing pools or lakes and pavilions set in an area planted with trees. An artificial island contained a pillared construction that held a painted pavement showing scenes from nature.

Meritaten's name seems to replace that of another royal lady in several places, among them in the Northern Palace and in the Maru-Aten. This had been misinterpreted as evidence of Nefertiti's disgrace and banishment from the royal court but, more recently, the erased inscriptions turned out to be the name of Kiya, one of Akhenaten's secondary wives, disproving that interpretation.