Melaney
A variant spelling of the feminine name Melanie, derived from the Greek melaina meaning "black" or "dark."
Name Census estimates that about 1,163 living Americans carry the first name Melaney. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melaney today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melaney births was 2007 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melaney. 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.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 294,716 Americans
Peak year
2007
38 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,323
Tracked since 1947
Census
Melaney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,041 people with the first name Melaney, which placed it at #12,081 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
#12,081
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,041 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melaney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melaney is White at 59.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.2%) and Black (9.5%). 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 Melaney 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 Melaney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.6% · 620
- Hispanic or Latino23.2% · 242
- Black or African American9.5% · 99
- Two or more races4.3% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 10
Popularity
Melaney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melaney from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 262 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
Melaney 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 Melaney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melaneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Melaney, while Illinois, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melaney
The name Melaney has its origins in the Greek language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "melaina," which means "black" or "dark." The name is thought to have been originally used as a descriptive term referring to someone with dark hair or a dark complexion.
In ancient Greek mythology, Melaney was the name of one of the Nereids, the sea nymph daughters of the god Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. The Nereids were minor goddesses who were often depicted as accompanying the chariot of the sea god Poseidon. This early mythological reference suggests that the name Melaney has been in use since at least the 8th century BCE.
The name Melaney is also mentioned in the works of some ancient Greek writers, such as the poet Pindar, who lived in the 5th century BCE. Pindar's writings contain references to a woman named Melaney, although little is known about her historical significance.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Melaney is from the 3rd century BCE, when a Greek woman named Melaney of Ephesus was known for her contributions to the arts and philosophy. She is believed to have been a student of the philosopher Epicurus and is mentioned in some philosophical texts from that era.
In the Middle Ages, the name Melaney was also used in various parts of Europe, particularly in France and Italy. One notable figure from this time period was Melaney of Aquitaine (c. 1040-1119), a French noblewoman who was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of religious orders.
During the Renaissance, the name Melaney gained popularity among artists and intellectuals. One prominent example is Melaney Scuderi (1676-1718), an Italian writer and poet who was celebrated for her literary works and her membership in various academic societies.
In more recent centuries, the name Melaney has continued to be used, though it has never been among the most popular names. Some notable individuals named Melaney include Melaney Klein (1899-1976), an American painter and printmaker; Melaney Kniffen (1902-1988), an American author and historian; and Melaney Griffith (1923-2010), an American actress and model.
People
Melaney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melaney 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
Melaney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melaney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,163 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melaney 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 294,716 US residents.
Is Melaney a common name?
We classify Melaney as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,259 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melaney most popular?
The single biggest year for Melaney was 2007, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melaney is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melaney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,041 people with the name Melaney, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,081 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 Melaney 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 Melaney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melaney appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,042 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Melaney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melaney is White at 59.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.2%) and Black (9.5%). 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 Melaney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melaney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.6% (620 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 Melaney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melaney a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melaney 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 Melaney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melaney 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 Melaney 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 share the name Melaney?
You can see how many people have the name Melaney on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.