Melana
Feminine name of unknown origin, possibly meaning "black" or "dark".
Name Census estimates that about 784 living Americans carry the first name Melana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melana today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melana births was 2004 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melana. 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.
People living today
784
~ 1 in 437,187 Americans
Peak year
2004
71 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,997
Tracked since 1947
Census
Melana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 829 people with the first name Melana, which placed it at #14,252 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
#14,252
National first-name rank
People counted
829
829 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melana is White at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.9%) and Black (12.5%). 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 Melana 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 Melana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.4% · 526
- Hispanic or Latino13.9% · 115
- Black or African American12.5% · 104
- Two or more races6.0% · 50
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 12
Popularity
Melana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melana from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 275 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melana 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 Melana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Melana, while Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melana
The name Melana is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word "melaina," which means "black" or "dark." It is believed to have been used as a descriptive name, perhaps referring to the dark hair or complexion of the person bearing the name.
In ancient Greek mythology, Melana was the name of one of the Oceanids, the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. The Oceanids were minor deities who presided over the fresh waters of the earth, such as rivers, streams, and springs.
The earliest recorded use of the name Melana dates back to the 5th century BC, when it appeared in ancient Greek writings and inscriptions. One notable bearer of the name was Melana of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 5th century BC and is said to have been a student of the renowned philosopher Pythagoras.
In the 1st century AD, Melana was the name of a Roman noblewoman and poet who was part of the literary circle of the Emperor Nero. Her poetry, although not widely preserved, was praised by contemporary writers for its elegance and wit.
During the Byzantine Empire, Melana Komnene was a prominent figure in the 12th century. She was a member of the influential Komnenos dynasty and served as a courtier and adviser to the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos.
Another historical figure with the name Melana was Melana of Trebizond, a Greek princess from the Empire of Trebizond in the 14th century. She is known for her role in negotiating a peace treaty between the Empire of Trebizond and the Ottoman Empire.
In more recent history, Melana Stanton (1858-1935) was an American suffragist and activist who played a significant role in the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was a prominent speaker and organizer for the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
People
Melana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melana 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
Melana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 784 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melana 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 437,187 US residents.
Is Melana a common name?
We classify Melana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 836 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melana most popular?
The single biggest year for Melana was 2004, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melana is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 829 people with the name Melana, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,252 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 Melana 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 Melana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melana appears almost entirely female. Of the 833 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Melana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melana is White at 63.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.9%) and Black (12.5%). 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 Melana most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.4% (526 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 Melana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melana in the SSA data are female. 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 Melana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melana 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 Melana 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 called Melana?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.