Mellanie
A feminine name derived from the French word "miel" meaning "honey".
Name Census estimates that about 1,013 living Americans carry the first name Mellanie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mellanie today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mellanie births was 2003 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mellanie. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 338,356 Americans
Peak year
2003
31 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,004
Tracked since 1942
Census
Mellanie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 974 people with the first name Mellanie, which placed it at #12,687 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
#12,687
National first-name rank
People counted
974
974 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mellanie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mellanie is White at 48.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and Black (13.0%). 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 Mellanie 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 Mellanie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.8% · 475
- Hispanic or Latino26.9% · 262
- Black or African American13.0% · 127
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.7% · 65
- Two or more races4.0% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 6
Popularity
Mellanie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mellanie from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 213 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mellanie 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 Mellanie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mellanies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Mellanie, while Florida, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mellanie
The name Mellanie is a variant of the more common name Melanie, which is derived from the Greek word "melaina," meaning "black" or "dark." This name is believed to have originated in ancient Greece, and its earliest known use dates back to the 5th century BCE.
In ancient Greek mythology, Melaina was the name of a nymph who was associated with the dark and mysterious aspects of nature. The name was likely given to girls who had dark features or were born during the night or under the new moon.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Mellanie can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who mentions a woman named Melaina in his work "The Histories," written around 440 BCE.
During the Byzantine era, the name Melania was popular among Christian families, likely due to its association with the Greek word "melas," which means "black" and was often used to symbolize piety and humility.
In the Middle Ages, the name Melanie was introduced to Western Europe through the Latin translation of Greek texts. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Saint Melania the Younger (383-439 CE), a Roman Christian saint who renounced her wealth and lived a life of asceticism.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Mellanie or variations of the name. These include:
1. Melania the Elder (c. 325-410 CE), a Roman Christian saint and benefactor who founded several monasteries in the Holy Land.
2. Melanie Wilkes, a character in the novel "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell, published in 1936.
3. Melanie Klein (1882-1960), an influential Austrian-British psychoanalyst who developed the theory of object relations.
4. Melanie Safka (born 1947), an American singer-songwriter known professionally as Melanie, best known for her hit songs "Brand New Key" and "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)."
5. Melanie Mayron (born 1952), an American actress known for her roles in the films "Girlfriends" and "Thirtysomething."
While the name Mellanie is not as common as its more traditional spelling, it has a rich history and cultural significance that spans centuries and crosses multiple regions and languages.
People
Mellanie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mellanie 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
Mellanie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mellanie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,013 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mellanie 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 338,356 US residents.
Is Mellanie a common name?
We classify Mellanie as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,112 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mellanie most popular?
The single biggest year for Mellanie was 2003, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mellanie is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mellanie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 974 people with the name Mellanie, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,687 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 Mellanie 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 Mellanie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mellanie appears almost entirely female. Of the 975 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Mellanie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mellanie is White at 48.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and Black (13.0%). 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 Mellanie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mellanie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.8% (475 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 Mellanie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mellanie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mellanie 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 Mellanie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mellanie 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 Mellanie 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 people are called Mellanie?
See how many people share the name Mellanie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.