Melessa
A feminine name with Greek origins meaning "bee" or "honey bee".
Name Census estimates that about 441 living Americans carry the first name Melessa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melessa today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melessa births was 1976 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melessa. 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
441
~ 1 in 777,221 Americans
Peak year
1976
28 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1992 SSA rank
#11,261
Tracked since 1954
Census
Melessa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 443 people with the first name Melessa, which placed it at #22,452 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
#22,452
National first-name rank
People counted
443
443 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melessa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melessa is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Hispanic (12.0%). 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 Melessa 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 Melessa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.7% · 291
- Black or African American16.0% · 71
- Hispanic or Latino12.0% · 53
- Two or more races3.8% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Popularity
Melessa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melessa from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 196 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melessa 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 Melessa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melessas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Melessa
The name Melessa is of Greek origin, deriving from the ancient Greek word "melissā," which means "bee." This name's roots can be traced back to the mythological figure of Melissa, a nymph who was transformed into a bee by the goddess Artemis. The name's association with bees and honey production in ancient Greek culture reflects the reverence and importance placed on these creatures in their agricultural practices.
In ancient Greek mythology, Melissa was revered as a priestess of the goddess Demeter and was believed to have been the first to discover the art of honey production. The name Melessa would have been bestowed upon individuals with a connection to beekeeping or those born under auspicious circumstances associated with bees.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Melessa can be found in ancient Greek texts and historical records from the 5th century BCE. One notable figure bearing this name was Melessa of Ephesus, a renowned poet and philosopher who lived during the 3rd century BCE. Her works, though largely lost to time, were celebrated for their insights into the nature of the universe and the human condition.
In the 1st century CE, the name Melessa made an appearance in the writings of the Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger, who referenced a woman by this name in his treatise on the virtues of a tranquil life.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Melessa found its way into various literary works and historical accounts, albeit with varying spellings and regional adaptations. One such example is Melissande, a character in the 12th-century French romantic epic "Roman de Tristan et Iseut," where she was portrayed as a beautiful and enchanting figure.
In the realm of historical figures, Melessa Gismondi, an Italian painter from the 16th century, was renowned for her portraiture and religious works. Her paintings adorned the walls of numerous churches and palaces throughout Italy, showcasing her artistic talent and skill.
Another notable bearer of the name was Melessa Fochetti, a 17th-century Italian composer and musician who gained recognition for her compositions for the harpsichord and her contributions to the development of the Baroque musical style.
As the name Melessa transcended geographical and cultural boundaries, it continued to surface in various contexts throughout history, carrying with it the essence of its ancient Greek origins and the symbolism of bees and their industrious nature.
People
Melessa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melessa 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
Melessa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melessa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 441 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melessa 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 777,221 US residents.
Is Melessa a common name?
We classify Melessa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 502 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melessa most popular?
The single biggest year for Melessa was 1976, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melessa is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melessa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 443 people with the name Melessa, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,452 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 Melessa 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 Melessa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melessa leans strongly female. 439 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 7 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Melessa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melessa is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.0%) and Hispanic (12.0%). 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 Melessa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melessa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (291 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 Melessa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melessa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melessa 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 Melessa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melessa 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 Melessa 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 common is the name Melessa?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.