Melina
A feminine name derived from the Greek word for honey.
Name Census estimates that about 18,657 living Americans carry the first name Melina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melina today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melina births was 2009 (681 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melina. 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 Melina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 18,371 Americans
Peak year
2009
681 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#633
Tracked since 1883
Census
Melina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,598 people with the first name Melina, which placed it at #1,729 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
#1,729
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
17,598 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
53.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melina is Hispanic at 53.3%. The next largest groups are White (34.1%) and Black (4.2%). 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 Melina 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 Melina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino53.3% · 9,373
- White34.1% · 5,999
- Black or African American4.2% · 741
- Two or more races4.1% · 726
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 652
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 107
Popularity
Melina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melina from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5,413 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Melina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melina 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 Melina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Melina, while Maine, Delaware, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 400 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melina
The name Melina is derived from the Greek word "melaina", meaning "black" or "dark". It is a feminine form of the male name Melinos, which has its roots in ancient Greece.
Melina was a relatively common name in classical Greek literature and mythology. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is in Homer's Iliad, where Melina is mentioned as a character. Additionally, there are references to Melina in various other ancient Greek texts and writings.
During the Byzantine era, Melina was a popular name among Greek aristocracy and nobility. One of the most notable historical figures with this name was Melina of Thessalonica, a saint and martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She is revered in the Eastern Orthodox Church for her unwavering faith and sacrifice.
In the Middle Ages, the name Melina spread across Europe and was particularly popular in Italy and Spain. It was during this time that variations of the name, such as Melania and Melania, emerged.
One of the most famous historical figures named Melina was Melina Mercouri, a Greek actress, singer, and politician born in 1920. She is best known for her role in the 1960 film "Never on Sunday", for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.
Another notable Melina was Melina Vostokova, a Russian prima ballerina who danced with the Bolshoi Ballet in the early 20th century. She was born in 1896 and is considered one of the greatest ballerinas of her time.
In the world of literature, Melina Pavlova was a renowned Russian poet and translator born in 1942. She was a prominent figure in the Russian literary scene and was known for her translations of works by Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath.
Melina Kanakaredes, an American actress born in 1967, is another notable figure with this name. She is best known for her roles in television series such as "Providence" and "CSI: NY".
Lastly, Melina Marchetta is an Australian writer and author born in 1965. She is best known for her young adult novels, including the critically acclaimed "Saving Francesca" and "The Piper's Son".
People
Melina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melina 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
Melina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,657 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melina 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 18,371 US residents.
Is Melina a common name?
We classify Melina as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19,488 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melina most popular?
The single biggest year for Melina was 2009, when 681 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melina is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,598 people with the name Melina, or 5.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,729 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 Melina 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 Melina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melina appears almost entirely female. Of the 17,597 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Melina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melina is Hispanic at 53.3%. The next largest groups are White (34.1%) and Black (4.2%). 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 Melina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Melina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.3% (9,373 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 Melina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melina 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 Melina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melina 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 Melina 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 Americans are named Melina?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.