Melad
A masculine Arabic name meaning "birth" or "nativity".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Melad. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Melad today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melad births was 1997 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melad. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Melad with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Melad. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
1997
6 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
1997 SSA rank
#8,896
Tracked since 1996
Census
Melad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 301 people with the first name Melad, which placed it at #29,423 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#29,423
National first-name rank
People counted
301
301 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melad is White at 83.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.3%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Melad described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Melad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.7% · 252
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.3% · 28
- Two or more races3.7% · 11
- Black or African American2.0% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 4
Popularity
Melad: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Melad by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Melad during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 11 | 0 | 11 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Melad
The name Melad originates from the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "milaad" which means "birth" or "nativity." The name is closely associated with the Islamic faith and has been used since the early days of Islam.
Melad can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the emergence of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. It was a common name given to boys born around the time of important Islamic festivals or events related to the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
In Islamic tradition, the name Melad is often associated with the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, known as Mawlid al-Nabi. This celebration has been observed by Muslims around the world for centuries and has led to the widespread use of the name Melad.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Melad can be found in the ancient Arabic literature and poetry from the 8th and 9th centuries CE. During this time, poets and scholars would often use the name Melad to symbolize the birth of a new era or the beginning of a significant event.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Melad. One of the most famous was Melad al-Basri (726-805 CE), a renowned Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic from Basra, Iraq. He was known for his teachings on asceticism and spiritual purification.
Another prominent individual with the name Melad was Melad al-Tusi (1201-1274 CE), a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. He made significant contributions to the fields of trigonometry and astronomy, and his works were widely studied in the Islamic world.
In the 14th century, Melad al-Dimashqi (1325-1405 CE) was a renowned Syrian historian and biographer. His most famous work, "Nukhbat al-Dahr fi 'Aja'ib al-Barr wa al-Bahr" (The Cream of the Ages Concerning the Marvels of Land and Sea), provided detailed accounts of the history and geography of the Islamic world.
Melad al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE), a famous Islamic philosopher and theologian, was also known by the name Melad. He is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Islam and his works, such as "Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din" (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), have had a lasting impact on Islamic thought and spirituality.
In the 19th century, Melad al-Kabir (1835-1899 CE) was a prominent Egyptian scholar and reformist. He played a significant role in the revival of Islamic education and the promotion of modern scientific knowledge in Egypt during the era of the Ottoman Empire.
People
Melad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melad as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Melad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melad going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Melad a common name?
We classify Melad as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melad most popular?
The single biggest year for Melad was 1997, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melad is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 301 people with the name Melad, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,423 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Melad in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Melad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melad leans strongly male. 278 people counted with this name were male (93.0%), compared with 21 female bearers (7.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Melad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melad is White at 83.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.3%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Melad most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.7% (252 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Melad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melad a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melad in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Melad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melad in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Melad can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Melad?
Find out how many Americans are named Melad on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.