Meliah
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from Melodia.
Name Census estimates that about 733 living Americans carry the first name Meliah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meliah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meliah births was 2009 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meliah. 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 Meliah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
733
~ 1 in 467,605 Americans
Peak year
2009
50 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,820
Tracked since 1979
Census
Meliah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 598 people with the first name Meliah, which placed it at #18,116 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
#18,116
National first-name rank
People counted
598
598 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
37.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meliah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meliah is White at 37.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.7%) and Black (22.6%). 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 Meliah 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 Meliah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White37.5% · 224
- Hispanic or Latino23.7% · 142
- Black or African American22.6% · 135
- Two or more races12.0% · 72
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 12
Popularity
Meliah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meliah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 304 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Meliah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meliah 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 Meliah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meliahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Florida, New York recorded the most babies named Meliah, while Ohio, Indiana, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meliah
The name Meliah is believed to have its origins in the Hebrew language, derived from the Biblical name Melech, which means "king" or "ruler." It is thought to have emerged as a feminine variation of this name during the Medieval period in Europe.
In its earliest recorded use, Meliah appeared as a variant spelling of the name Melcha, which was used in some ancient Hebrew texts and religious scriptures. This spelling variation likely arose due to regional differences in pronunciation and transliteration from the original Hebrew.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Meliah was Meliah of Metz, a 12th-century Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in the Champagne region of France. She was known for her contributions to the study of Talmudic literature and Jewish law.
Another notable figure bearing this name was Meliah de Rothschild (1532-1598), a member of the influential Rothschild family in the 16th century. She was a prominent businesswoman and philanthropist in her time, known for her support of various charitable causes.
In the 17th century, Meliah Beaton (1612-1673) was a Scottish noblewoman and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria of England. She played a significant role in the cultural and social life of the English court during her time.
During the 18th century, Meliah Durand (1748-1824) was a French author and poet who gained recognition for her romantic poetry and contributions to the Romanticism literary movement in France.
In the 19th century, Meliah Vinson (1821-1892) was an American educator and advocate for women's rights. She founded several schools for girls in the southern United States and worked tirelessly to promote education and equality for women.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Meliah, reflecting its diverse cultural and geographical origins, as well as its use across various eras and contexts.
People
Meliah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meliah 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
Meliah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meliah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 733 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meliah 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 467,605 US residents.
Is Meliah a common name?
We classify Meliah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 743 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meliah most popular?
The single biggest year for Meliah was 2009, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meliah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meliah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 598 people with the name Meliah, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,116 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 Meliah 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 Meliah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meliah appears almost entirely female. Of the 596 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 Meliah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meliah is White at 37.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.7%) and Black (22.6%). 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 Meliah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meliah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.5% (224 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 Meliah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meliah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meliah 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 Meliah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meliah 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 Meliah 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 Meliah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.