Melisse
Feminine name derived from Greek meaning "honeybee" or "sweetness".
Name Census estimates that about 235 living Americans carry the first name Melisse. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melisse today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melisse births was 1975 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melisse. 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
235
~ 1 in 1,458,529 Americans
Peak year
1975
17 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1989 SSA rank
#11,796
Tracked since 1939
Census
Melisse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 322 people with the first name Melisse, which placed it at #28,067 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
#28,067
National first-name rank
People counted
322
322 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melisse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melisse is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.5%) and Black (9.0%). 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 Melisse 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 Melisse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.7% · 231
- Hispanic or Latino11.5% · 37
- Black or African American9.0% · 29
- Two or more races3.7% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
Popularity
Melisse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melisse from the 1930s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 125 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Melisse remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melisse 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 Melisse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melisse
Melisse is a feminine given name with origins in ancient Greek. It is derived from the Greek word "melissa," meaning "honey bee." The name was used in classical Greek mythology, where it referred to a nymph who discovered and taught the use of honey.
In ancient times, the name Melisse was associated with sweetness, diligence, and productivity, drawing parallels with the industrious nature of honey bees. The name gained popularity in various regions influenced by Greek culture, including parts of the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Melisse can be found in the works of ancient Greek writers, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, where it was used as a character name. The name also appeared in various Greek legends and folktales, often personifying virtues like hard work and resourcefulness.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Melisse. In the 4th century BCE, Melisse of Samos was a renowned female philosopher and mathematician from the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. She was known for her contributions to the fields of geometry and astronomy.
During the Byzantine Empire, Melisse of Constantinople (born around 980 CE) was a prominent scholar and writer. She authored several works on theology and philosophy, and her writings were widely studied in the medieval period.
In the 16th century, Melisse Fenwick (1525-1590) was an English noblewoman known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the Protestant Reformation in England.
Melisse de Scudéry (1607-1701) was a influential French writer and intellectual during the 17th century. She hosted a prominent literary salon in Paris and wrote numerous novels, plays, and essays that explored themes of love, morality, and social commentary.
In the 19th century, Melisse Brünnich (1818-1888) was a Danish painter and illustrator celebrated for her portraits and landscapes. Her works were displayed in exhibitions throughout Europe and gained widespread recognition during her lifetime.
People
Melisse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melisse 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
Melisse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melisse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 235 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melisse 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 1,458,529 US residents.
Is Melisse a common name?
We classify Melisse as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melisse most popular?
The single biggest year for Melisse was 1975, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melisse 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 Melisse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 322 people with the name Melisse, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,067 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 Melisse 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 Melisse?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melisse appears almost entirely female. Of the 320 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Melisse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melisse is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.5%) and Black (9.0%). 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 Melisse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melisse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.7% (231 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 Melisse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melisse a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melisse 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 Melisse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melisse 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 Melisse 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 Melisse?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.