Melba
From Spanish, meaning "beautiful town".
Name Census estimates that about 9,050 living Americans carry the first name Melba. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melba today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melba births was 1924 (1,003 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melba. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Melba is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 52 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Melba is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Melbas were born before 1963.
People living today
9.1K
~ 1 in 37,873 Americans
Peak year
1924
1,003 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1941 SSA rank
#3,043
Tracked since 1893
Gender
Gender distribution for Melba
Out of the 34,918 babies given the name Melba since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Melba as a male name
- Ranked #3,043 in 1941
- 7 male births in 1941
- Peak: 1921 (9 births)
Melba as a female name
- Ranked #11,750 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (998 births)
Popularity
Melba: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melba from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 9,124 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melba 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 Melba during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melbas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. Texas, Missouri, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Melba, while Wyoming, Rhode Island, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 704 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melba
The name Melba originates from the Spanish word "alba," meaning "dawn" or "white." It is believed to have been derived from the Latin word "albus," which also translates to "white." The name first gained popularity in the late 19th century.
Melba is thought to be a feminine form of the Spanish name Melchor, which is one of the traditional names given to the Three Kings or Wise Men in the Nativity story. The name Melchor is derived from the Hebrew "Malki-Or," meaning "king of light."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Melba dates back to the late 19th century when it was given to Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931). Her real name was Helen Porter Mitchell, but she adopted the stage name Melba after her hometown of Melbourne, Australia.
Another notable historical figure named Melba was American singer and actress Melba Moore (born 1945). She is best known for her hit songs "This Is It" and "Falling" in the 1980s.
Melba Pattillo Beals (born 1941) was one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African American students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. She later wrote a memoir about her experiences titled "Warriors Don't Cry."
Melba Liston (1926-1999) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. She was known for her work with renowned musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, and Quincy Jones.
Melba Hernandez (born 1945) is a Cuban-American businesswoman and former political activist. She was part of the anti-Castro movement in the 1960s and later became a successful entrepreneur in the real estate industry.
People
Melba + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melba 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
Melba: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melba?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,050 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melba 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 37,873 US residents.
Is Melba a common name?
We classify Melba as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 34,918 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melba most popular?
The single biggest year for Melba was 1924, when 1,003 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melba is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Melba a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Melba 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.
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.