Melanie

What Melanie means

Means “black, dark”

From French Mélanie, from Latin Melania, the name of two Roman fifth century saints, from Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas, “black, dark”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Melanie” (revision 93952474), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Melanie?

US: Falling: down from #81 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #708 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1973, when 6,079 girls got the name (#43 that year). First in the US records in 1886.

How common

• About 1 in 775 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 6,178 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 5,964 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DE (3.99 per 1,000 girls), NM (2.57 per 1,000 girls), MS (2.25 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Melanie is #142 in the US and #863 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Melanie were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Melania198 US · 24 E&W
• Milania118 US · 9 E&W
• Malanie19 US
• Melannie18 US
• Milanie12 US
• Malonie11 US
• Melonie9 US
• Malania8 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Melanie

Girls

• Angelina#347“a female resident of Los Angeles”^*
• Allie#569Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #255 in 2015, #569 in 2025
• Arianna#234Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #56 in 2015, #234 in 2025
• Angel#546Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2002, with 3,100 babies; 551 in 2025
• Anna#107Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #44 in 2015, #107 in 2025
• Alexis#554“helper, defender”^*

For a brother

• Colin#343Short form of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”^*
• Andy#565Diminutive of Andrew, meaning “manly”^*
• Damien#352Form of Damian, meaning “to tame”^*
• Alexander#30“to defend + man”^*
• Jason#165“I heal”^*
• Gabriel#37Finnish, meaning “God is my strong man, God is my hero”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Melanie’s. Rank is US 2025.