Mellody
A feminine name of Welsh origin meaning "honey sweet".
Name Census estimates that about 429 living Americans carry the first name Mellody. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mellody today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mellody births was 1956 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mellody. 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
429
~ 1 in 798,961 Americans
Peak year
1956
16 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,813
Tracked since 1946
Census
Mellody in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 410 people with the first name Mellody, which placed it at #23,765 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
#23,765
National first-name rank
People counted
410
410 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mellody
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mellody is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Black (21.7%) and Hispanic (11.7%). 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 Mellody 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 Mellody at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.3% · 231
- Black or African American21.7% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino11.7% · 48
- Two or more races7.3% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Mellody: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mellody from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 103 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Mellody remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mellody 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 Mellody during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mellodys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mellody
The name Mellody is of English origin, derived from the Old French word "melodie," which in turn comes from the Latin "melodia," meaning "song" or "melody." The name likely emerged during the Middle Ages in England, around the 12th or 13th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mellody can be found in the Middle English poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," written in the late 14th century. In the poem, a character named Mellody is mentioned as a maiden who accompanies the court of King Arthur.
In the 16th century, a woman named Mellody Browne (1550-1619) was a renowned English poet and writer. Her works were widely circulated during her lifetime and she was celebrated for her elegant verse.
During the Renaissance period, a French artist named Mellody Lebrun (1578-1635) gained recognition for her intricate oil paintings depicting scenes from Greek mythology. Her works were commissioned by several noble families in France and Italy.
In the 18th century, Mellody Fairfax (1725-1799) was a British aristocrat and philanthropist. She was known for her charitable efforts in supporting orphanages and education initiatives for underprivileged children.
Another notable figure with the name Mellody was Mellody Chesterton (1882-1961), a British suffragette and activist who played a crucial role in the women's suffrage movement in the early 20th century. She was arrested multiple times for her involvement in protests and demonstrations.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Mellody, showcasing its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Mellody + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mellody 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
Mellody: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mellody?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 429 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mellody 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 798,961 US residents.
Is Mellody a common name?
We classify Mellody as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 489 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mellody most popular?
The single biggest year for Mellody was 1956, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mellody is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mellody in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 410 people with the name Mellody, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,765 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 Mellody 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 Mellody?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mellody appears almost entirely female. Of the 413 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 Mellody?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mellody is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Black (21.7%) and Hispanic (11.7%). 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 Mellody most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mellody in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.3% (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 Mellody in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mellody a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mellody 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 Mellody still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mellody 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 Mellody 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 Mellody?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.