Melven
A Germanic masculine name derived from the elements "mel" and "vin" meaning "friend of strength".
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Melven. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Melven today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melven births was 1925 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melven. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Melven is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Melvens were born before 1957.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
1925
22 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1968 SSA rank
#4,533
Tracked since 1913
Census
Melven in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 208 people with the first name Melven, which placed it at #37,486 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
#37,486
National first-name rank
People counted
208
208 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
37.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melven
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melven is White at 37.0%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Hispanic (20.7%). 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 Melven 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 Melven at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White37.0% · 77
- Black or African American28.8% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino20.7% · 43
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.7% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.4% · 7
- Two or more races1.4% · 3
Popularity
Melven: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melven from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 170 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melven 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 Melven 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 Melven
The name Melven has its origins in the Germanic languages, likely derived from the Old English roots "mel" meaning "mill" and "ven" meaning "friend" or "companion." This suggests the name may have originally referred to someone who worked at or lived near a mill, or perhaps a miller's assistant.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, an extensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Melven de Molendino," which translates to "Melven of the Mill," lending credence to the theory of its connection to mills.
In the 12th century, a monk named Melven of Canterbury was known for his illuminated manuscripts and calligraphic works. His beautifully decorated codices are still housed in the Canterbury Cathedral library.
During the Renaissance period, Melven Boccaccio (1425-1493) was an Italian humanist scholar and poet, notable for his translations of classical Greek texts into Latin.
In the 17th century, Melven Winslow (1628-1703) was a prominent English clergyman and author, known for his sermons and theological writings.
The name Melven also appears in the historical record of the American Revolutionary War, with Melven Putnam (1753-1822) serving as a lieutenant in the Continental Army under General George Washington.
While the name has fallen out of common usage in more recent times, it holds a rich historical legacy spanning various cultures and periods, from its Germanic roots to its documented appearances in important texts and records throughout the centuries.
People
Melven + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melven 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
Melven: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melven?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melven 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 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Melven a common name?
We classify Melven as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 511 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melven most popular?
The single biggest year for Melven was 1925, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melven is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melven in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 208 people with the name Melven, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,486 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 Melven 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 Melven?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melven leans strongly male. 189 people counted with this name were male (93.6%), compared with 13 female bearers (6.4%). 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 Melven?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melven is White at 37.0%. The next largest groups are Black (28.8%) and Hispanic (20.7%). 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 Melven most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melven in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.0% (77 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 Melven in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melven a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melven in the SSA data are male. 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 Melven still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melven 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 Melven 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 Melven?
See how many Americans are named Melven on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.