Melaina
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "the dark, black one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,153 living Americans carry the first name Melaina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melaina today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melaina births was 2004 (78 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melaina. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Melaina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 297,272 Americans
Peak year
2004
78 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,770
Tracked since 1964
Census
Melaina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,077 people with the first name Melaina, which placed it at #11,755 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
#11,755
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,077 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melaina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melaina is White at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.6%) and Two or More Races (9.0%). 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 Melaina 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 Melaina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.1% · 723
- Hispanic or Latino13.6% · 147
- Two or more races9.0% · 97
- Black or African American6.0% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 17
Popularity
Melaina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melaina from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 438 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melaina 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 Melaina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melainas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Melaina, while New York, Missouri, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melaina
The name Melaina has its roots in the Greek language and can be traced back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "melaina," which means "black" or "dark." This name was likely given to children with dark hair or complexions in ancient Greece.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Melaina can be found in ancient Greek literature, where it was used as a descriptor for various things with a dark color or appearance. However, there are no known historical figures from ancient Greece with this specific name.
The name Melaina seems to have been more commonly used during the Byzantine era, which lasted from the 4th to the 15th century. One notable figure from this period was Melaina of Constantinople (c. 1035 – c. 1100), a Byzantine noblewoman and poet who wrote several works in Greek.
In the Middle Ages, the name Melaina was also used in various parts of Europe, although it was not as common as some other Greek-derived names. One notable bearer of this name was Melaina of Arles (c. 1160 – c. 1220), a French noblewoman and patron of the arts who supported various poets and writers during her lifetime.
During the Renaissance period, the name Melaina gained some popularity among certain intellectual circles, particularly in Italy. One notable figure from this time was Melaina Pisano (c. 1420 – c. 1490), an Italian mathematician and philosopher who made significant contributions to the study of geometry and algebra.
Another notable bearer of the name Melaina was Melaina de Medici (1555 – 1619), a member of the influential Medici family in Florence, Italy. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of various artists and intellectuals during the Renaissance period.
In more recent history, the name Melaina has been used sporadically in various parts of the world, although it remains relatively uncommon compared to some other Greek-derived names. Overall, the name Melaina has a rich historical legacy that spans centuries and cultures, with its origins deeply rooted in the ancient Greek language and its meaning associated with darkness or a dark complexion.
People
Melaina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melaina 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
Melaina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melaina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,153 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melaina 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 297,272 US residents.
Is Melaina a common name?
We classify Melaina as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,188 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melaina most popular?
The single biggest year for Melaina was 2004, when 78 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melaina is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melaina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,077 people with the name Melaina, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,755 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 Melaina 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 Melaina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melaina appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,076 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Melaina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melaina is White at 67.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.6%) and Two or More Races (9.0%). 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 Melaina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melaina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.1% (723 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 Melaina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melaina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melaina 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 Melaina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melaina 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 Melaina 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 have Melaina as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Melaina, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.