Melchor
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "king of light".
Name Census estimates that about 704 living Americans carry the first name Melchor. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Melchor today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melchor births was 1992 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melchor. 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
704
~ 1 in 486,867 Americans
Peak year
1992
25 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,536
Tracked since 1917
Census
Melchor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,610 people with the first name Melchor, which placed it at #6,202 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
#6,202
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,610 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melchor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melchor is Hispanic at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.7%) and White (1.0%). 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 Melchor 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 Melchor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino69.3% · 1,809
- Asian and Pacific Islander28.7% · 750
- White1.0% · 27
- Two or more races0.7% · 17
- Black or African American0.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Melchor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melchor from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 151 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melchor 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 Melchor during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melchors live
Origin
Meaning and history of Melchor
Melchor is a masculine given name with its origins rooted in the Spanish language. It is derived from the Hebrew name Malki-Or, which translates to "king of light" or "my king is light." The name gained prominence during the biblical era, particularly in the Christian tradition.
One of the earliest and most significant references to the name Melchor can be found in the Biblical story of the Three Wise Men or Magi who visited the newborn Jesus Christ. In the Western Christian tradition, one of the Three Wise Men is named Melchor, representing the gift of gold brought to the Christ Child. This association with the Nativity story has contributed to the name's enduring popularity within the Christian faith.
The name Melchor was particularly prevalent in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. It was a popular choice among the nobility and royalty, reflecting the name's regal connotations. Some notable historical figures bearing the name Melchor include:
1. Melchor Cano (1509-1560), a Spanish Dominican theologian and one of the leading figures of the Catholic Reformation.
2. Melchor Gaspar de Jovellanos (1744-1811), a Spanish Enlightenment writer, philosopher, and statesman.
3. Melchor Ocampo (1814-1861), a Mexican lawyer, politician, and one of the leading figures in the Reform War in Mexico.
4. Melchor Bravo de Saravia (1512-1577), a Spanish conquistador who played a significant role in the conquest of Peru.
5. Melchor Rodríguez García (1893-1972), a Spanish Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Valladolid from 1949 to 1972.
These historical figures, spanning different eras and regions, exemplify the widespread use and significance of the name Melchor throughout various cultures influenced by the Spanish language and Christian traditions.
People
Melchor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melchor 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
Melchor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melchor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 704 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melchor 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 486,867 US residents.
Is Melchor a common name?
We classify Melchor as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 894 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melchor most popular?
The single biggest year for Melchor was 1992, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melchor is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melchor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,610 people with the name Melchor, or 0.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,202 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 Melchor 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 Melchor?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melchor appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,616 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Melchor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melchor is Hispanic at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (28.7%) and White (1.0%). 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 Melchor most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Melchor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (1,809 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 Melchor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melchor a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melchor 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 Melchor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melchor 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 Melchor 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 have the name Melchor?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.