Melvie
A feminine name of unknown origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 62 living Americans carry the first name Melvie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melvie today is around 84 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melvie births was 1936 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melvie. 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 Melvie is about 84 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Melvies were born before 1952.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Melvie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
62
~ 1 in 5,528,296 Americans
Peak year
1936
16 babies that year
Average age
84
years old
1956 SSA rank
#5,740
Tracked since 1900
Census
Melvie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 159 people with the first name Melvie, which placed it at #43,953 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
#43,953
National first-name rank
People counted
159
159 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melvie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melvie is White at 44.0%. The next largest groups are Black (37.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (15.1%). 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 Melvie 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 Melvie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.0% · 70
- Black or African American37.1% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.1% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 4
- Two or more races1.3% · 2
Popularity
Melvie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melvie from the 1900s through to the 1950s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 104 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melvie 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 Melvie 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 Melvie
The name Melvie is a feminine given name with origins shrouded in mystery. It is believed to have emerged from the Old French language, possibly derived from the Germanic root "mila," meaning "gentle" or "kind." However, its precise etymology remains uncertain.
In the early medieval period, variants of the name, such as Melvina and Melviria, were occasionally documented in monastic records and local parish registers across parts of Northern France and the Low Countries. These early mentions suggest that the name may have held some significance within certain religious or cultural contexts, although the details are obscure.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Melvie was a minor noblewoman named Melvie de Montfort, who lived in the late 12th century and was a distant relative of the powerful Montfort family in Normandy. Historical records mention her as a benefactor of a small monastery in the region.
In the 15th century, a Melvie Durand was noted as a respected midwife and healer in the town of Arras, in what is now northern France. Her reputation for compassionate care and herbal remedies was documented in local chronicles of the time.
During the Renaissance, a Melvie Boisvert, born in 1529, was a notable painter and illuminator of manuscripts in the court of King Henry II of France. Her intricate and vibrant illustrations adorned several religious texts and royal commissions.
In the 17th century, Melvie Leclerc, born in 1642, was a French actress and playwright who performed in the prestigious Comédie-Française in Paris. Her witty comedic works were celebrated by contemporaries and contributed to the flourishing of French theater during that era.
Another notable figure was Melvie Deveraux, born in 1789, a pioneering French botanist and explorer. She undertook several expeditions to remote regions, cataloging and studying numerous plant species, and her contributions to the field were recognized by the French Academy of Sciences.
While the name Melvie has been relatively uncommon throughout history, these examples illustrate its presence across various periods and contexts, from the medieval era to the Age of Enlightenment, spanning the realms of nobility, medicine, art, literature, and science.
People
Melvie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melvie 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
Melvie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melvie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 62 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melvie 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 5,528,296 US residents.
Is Melvie a common name?
We classify Melvie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 347 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melvie most popular?
The single biggest year for Melvie was 1936, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melvie is about 84 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melvie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 159 people with the name Melvie, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,953 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 Melvie 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 Melvie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melvie leans strongly female. 153 people counted with this name were female (89.5%), compared with 18 male bearers (10.5%). 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 Melvie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melvie is White at 44.0%. The next largest groups are Black (37.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (15.1%). 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 Melvie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melvie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.0% (70 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 Melvie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melvie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melvie 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 Melvie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melvie 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 Melvie 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 Melvie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.