Melanie

“Dark or black, from Greek melas” — Greek via Latin and French origin

Girl's name · #142 in the US (2025) · Retro

Melanie reached #42 in 1972 and has eased to #142 since. About 263,000 girls have carried it since 1886. Melanie's short forms are Mel and Mellie. Together with its spelling variants Melany (#399) and Melani (#1056), Melanie would rank around #81 with about 3,100 births last year — the newborns split about 67/25/8 across Melanie, Melany, and Melani.

Around the world: about 1 in 830 girls in Sweden (2025) · about 1 in 2,100 girls in Austria (2025) · about 1 in 2,800 girls in Switzerland (2024).

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 42 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Famous Melanies

Melanie Griffith — American actress
Mélanie Laurent — French actress, model, director and writer
Melanie Klein — British Austrian born psychoanalyst (1882–1960)
Melanie Martinez — American singer-songwriter
Melanie C — British pop singer

In stories & tradition

Melanie Hamilton — Gone with the Wind
Melanie Marcus — Queer as Folk
Melanie Barnett — The Game

What Melanies become

Among 2,216 notable people named Melanie:

Medical professionals appear 2.41× more often than among typical names — e.g. Mélanie Hahnemann, French painter and homeopathic physician (1800-1878).

Similar names: Melani · Valerie · Melissa · Kehlani · Amy · Delaney

Browse more girl names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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