Melika
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "queen" or "sovereign".
Name Census estimates that about 385 living Americans carry the first name Melika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melika today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melika births was 1989 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melika. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Melika with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
385
~ 1 in 890,271 Americans
Peak year
1989
15 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,970
Tracked since 1971
Census
Melika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 641 people with the first name Melika, which placed it at #17,282 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
#17,282
National first-name rank
People counted
641
641 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melika is White at 52.1%. The next largest groups are Black (30.7%) and Two or More Races (9.5%). 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 Melika 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 Melika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.1% · 334
- Black or African American30.7% · 197
- Two or more races9.5% · 61
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.8% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Melika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melika from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 100 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
Melika 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 Melika during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melikas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Melika
Melika is a name with roots dating back to ancient Persia. It is derived from the Persian word "melikah," which means "queen" or "sovereign." The name is believed to have originated during the Achaemenid Empire, which ruled over Persia from the 6th to 4th centuries BCE.
In ancient Persian mythology, Melika was the name of a goddess associated with fertility and abundance. She was often depicted as a beautiful woman holding a cornucopia, symbolizing her power to bring prosperity and nourishment to the land.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Melika can be found in the Shahnameh, a 10th-century epic poem written by the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi. In the poem, Melika is mentioned as the name of a princess from the Parthian Empire, which ruled over ancient Persia from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Melika. One of the most famous was Melika-Sultan Begum (1363-1421), a princess of the Timurid Empire in Central Asia. She was renowned for her patronage of the arts and her efforts to promote education and cultural development.
Another prominent figure was Melika Husrev (1236-1301), a 13th-century Persian poet and mystic who wrote extensively on Sufism and spirituality. Her works, including the collection "Diwan-e Melika Husrev," are still widely studied and celebrated in the Persian-speaking world.
In the 16th century, Melika Ismatullah (1516-1589) was a renowned female Islamic scholar and poet from India. She was highly respected for her knowledge of Islamic law and her contributions to the literary and intellectual circles of her time.
During the 19th century, Melika Khanom (1828-1908) was a prominent Iranian painter and calligrapher. She is recognized as one of the first female artists in Iran to gain widespread recognition for her talents and to challenge traditional gender norms in the arts.
Another notable figure is Melika Seddiqi (1907-1968), an Afghan feminist and educator who played a crucial role in advocating for women's rights and educational opportunities in Afghanistan during the early 20th century.
While the name Melika has ancient roots in Persian culture, it has transcended geographical boundaries and continues to be used in various parts of the world, carrying with it a sense of nobility, grace, and cultural richness.
People
Melika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melika 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
Melika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 385 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melika 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 890,271 US residents.
Is Melika a common name?
We classify Melika as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 400 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melika most popular?
The single biggest year for Melika was 1989, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melika is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 641 people with the name Melika, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,282 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 Melika 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 Melika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melika leans strongly female. 635 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 8 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Melika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melika is White at 52.1%. The next largest groups are Black (30.7%) and Two or More Races (9.5%). 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 Melika most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.1% (334 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 Melika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melika 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 Melika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melika 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 Melika 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 Melika?
See how many people share the name Melika on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.