Melieck
A unique spelling variant of the French name Malachie, meaning "messenger of God."
Name Census estimates that about 8 living Americans carry the first name Melieck. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Melieck today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melieck births was 1996 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melieck. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Melieck. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
8
~ 1 in 42,844,292 Americans
Peak year
1996
8 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
1996 SSA rank
#6,909
Tracked since 1996
Popularity
Melieck: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Melieck 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 Melieck 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 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Melieck
The name Melieck is of Scandinavian origin, traced back to the Old Norse language spoken by the Vikings and Norse people of medieval Scandinavia. It is believed to have originated as a compound word, combining the Old Norse elements "mel" meaning "sand" or "soil," and "ekkja" meaning "widow" or "lone woman." The earliest known spelling of the name was "Melekkja," which later evolved into the modern form Melieck.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of this name can be found in the Icelandic Landnámabók, a medieval manuscript detailing the settlement of Iceland by Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries. It is said that a woman named Melekkja was among the first settlers to arrive in the region now known as Reykjavík.
In the 12th century, a Norwegian chieftain named Melieck Halvorsson is mentioned in the Heimskringla, a collection of sagas written by the renowned Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson. Halvorsson was a prominent figure in the region of Trøndelag and is believed to have been born around 1130 CE.
During the Middle Ages, the name Melieck appeared sporadically in historical records across Scandinavia. One notable bearer was Melieck Oddsdottir, a 14th-century Icelandic noblewoman who played a significant role in the country's turbulent politics during the Sturlung Era (born circa 1310).
In the 16th century, a Swedish explorer named Melieck Andersson was part of the crew that accompanied Jacques Cartier on his third voyage to North America in 1541. Andersson is credited with being one of the first Europeans to set foot on the shores of what is now modern-day Canada.
During the Viking Age, the name Melieck was also found in the Scandinavian diaspora that settled in parts of the British Isles. One example is Melieck Sigurdsson, a Norse-Gael chieftain who ruled over the Isle of Man in the late 11th century (born around 1060).
While the name Melieck has largely fallen out of common usage in modern times, its historical roots and unique meaning have made it a subject of interest among scholars and enthusiasts of Scandinavian culture and history.
People
Melieck + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melieck 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
Melieck: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melieck?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melieck 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 42,844,292 US residents.
Is Melieck a common name?
We classify Melieck as "Very Rare". It ranks above 24.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melieck most popular?
The single biggest year for Melieck was 1996, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melieck is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Melieck in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melieck a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melieck 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 Melieck still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melieck 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 Melieck 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are called Melieck?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.