Melodee
A feminine name derived from the word "melody", referring to a sweet or pleasant sound.
Name Census estimates that about 2,201 living Americans carry the first name Melodee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Melodee today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Melodee births was 1956 (104 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Melodee. 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 Melodee with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 155,727 Americans
Peak year
1956
104 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,833
Tracked since 1933
Census
Melodee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,165 people with the first name Melodee, which placed it at #7,127 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
#7,127
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,165 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Melodee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melodee is White at 75.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Melodee 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 Melodee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.9% · 1,643
- Black or African American7.8% · 168
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 149
- Two or more races5.2% · 113
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 18
Popularity
Melodee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Melodee from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 740 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Melodee 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 Melodee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Melodees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Melodee, while Oklahoma, New York, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Melodee
The name Melodee is a relatively modern creation, originating in the English language in the 20th century. It is derived from the Greek word "melōdia," meaning "song" or "melody." The name is thought to have been coined as a variation of the more traditional name Melody, likely to add a unique twist or to evoke a sense of musical beauty.
While the name Melodee itself does not have a long historical lineage, its roots can be traced back to ancient Greek culture, where music and poetry were highly revered art forms. The concept of melody was closely tied to the muses, the goddesses of arts and sciences in Greek mythology.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Melodee can be found in the United States in the early 20th century. Melodee Prigmore, an American actress born in 1921, was one of the first notable individuals to bear this name.
Another prominent figure associated with the name Melodee was Melodee Moninger, an American television personality and actress born in 1943. She gained recognition for her roles in various television shows and movies throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
In the world of music, Melodee DeVeaux, an American singer and songwriter born in 1962, made a name for herself in the jazz and R&B genres. Her smooth vocals and unique style contributed to the popularity of the name Melodee in the latter half of the 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Melodee was Melodee Tunick, an American artist and sculptor born in 1934. Her work, which often explored themes of nature and the human form, gained recognition in the art world.
Lastly, Melodee Blakeley, an American television personality and model born in 1974, gained fame as a contestant on various reality shows, further popularizing the name Melodee in the late 20th century.
While the name Melodee may not have a long historical lineage, its connection to music, art, and creativity has made it a unique and memorable choice for parents seeking a name that evokes a sense of beauty and artistic expression.
People
Melodee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Melodee 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
Melodee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melodee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,201 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Melodee 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 155,727 US residents.
Is Melodee a common name?
We classify Melodee as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,709 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Melodee most popular?
The single biggest year for Melodee was 1956, when 104 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Melodee is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Melodee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,165 people with the name Melodee, or 0.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,127 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 Melodee 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 Melodee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Melodee appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,167 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 Melodee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Melodee is White at 75.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Melodee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Melodee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.9% (1,643 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 Melodee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Melodee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Melodee 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 Melodee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Melodee 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 Melodee 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 the name Melodee?
See how many Americans are named Melodee on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.