Head to head · Girls' names
Briana vs Melina
#661 vs #660 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Melina is a whisker ahead (#660 vs #661 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Melina leads 3 measures of 6; Briana leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Briana —, Melina #1013 — Melina higher
- 1890s: Briana —, Melina #1412 — Melina higher
- 1900s: Briana —, Melina #1668 — Melina higher
- 1910s: Briana —, Melina #2697 — Melina higher
- 1920s: Briana —, Melina #4378 — Melina higher
- 1930s: Briana —, Melina #4202 — Melina higher
- 1940s: Briana —, Melina #3751 — Melina higher
- 1950s: Briana #4232, Melina #3446 — Melina higher
- 1960s: Briana #2464, Melina #1553 — Melina higher
- 1970s: Briana #876, Melina #1139 — Briana higher
- 1980s: Briana #276, Melina #972 — Briana higher
- 1990s: Briana #80, Melina #710 — Briana higher
- 2000s: Briana #119, Melina #539 — Briana higher
- 2010s: Briana #391, Melina #598 — Briana higher
- 2020s: Briana #575, Melina #645 — Briana higher
Melina stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Briana has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Briana | Melina |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #1013 |
| 1890s | — | #1412 |
| 1900s | — | #1668 |
| 1910s | — | #2697 |
| 1920s | — | #4378 |
| 1930s | — | #4202 |
| 1940s | — | #3751 |
| 1950s | #4232 | #3446 |
| 1960s | #2464 | #1553 |
| 1970s | #876 | #1139 |
| 1980s | #276 | #972 |
| 1990s | #80 | #710 |
| 2000s | #119 | #539 |
| 2010s | #391 | #598 |
| 2020s | #575 | #645 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Briana
feminine form of Brian, usually read as "noble" or "high"
Brian goes back to Old Irish, and scholars have not agreed on its root. The leading readings are an Old Celtic element meaning "high, noble, exalted" and a connection to Old Irish brí, "hill" — and by extension worth or dignity. Both are serious; neither has won.
Brían (Old Irish) → Brian → Briana → Brianna
How it traveled
The root name belongs to Ireland, where Brian was borne by Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, killed at Clontarf in 1014 — after which it spread through Irish families for centuries. English writers picked it up as well: Spenser gave a character the name Briana in The Faerie Queene in the 1590s.
Melina
honey; also a pet form of names like Carmela and Michalina
Two serious readings sit side by side. The Greek one traces Melina to *meli*, honey — the root that also gives Melissa, 'bee'. The other treats it as a diminutive ending grafted onto other names: Carmelina and Carmela in Italian and Spanish, Michalina in Polish, each of which can shorten to Melina. Both routes are genuinely in use, and a family can honestly claim either.
meli (Greek, 'honey') → Melina → Mélina
How it traveled
The honey word *meli* is ancient Greek, and the -ina ending is a diminutive that Greek, Italian and Spanish all share, so Melina could be formed independently in more than one place — which is roughly what happened. In Greece it stands on its own; in Italy and Spain it has long doubled as the short form of Carmela and Carmelina; in Poland it turns up behind Michalina.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Briana
bree-AH-nuh
Also said bree-AN-uh, with the middle syllable rhyming with "can." Both are established in the US, so it is worth deciding early which one you will correct people toward.
- Bri — The everyday short form, used by friends and family; often written Bree.
- Bree — Same sound, fuller spelling; also stands on its own as a given name.
- Bria — Two syllables rather than three; independently used as a given name in the US.
- Anna — Drawn from the tail of the name; less common, but it works and is a complete name itself.
Melina
meh-LEE-nah
Stress on the middle syllable. Some American families say muh-LEE-nuh with a softer first vowel; the French Mélina and Greek Μελίνα both keep the same shape, so the name survives the crossing between languages with little damage.
- Mel — The everyday informal short form; shared with Melanie, Melissa and Melinda, so it says less about which name is on the certificate.
- Lina — Taken from the back half; also a full given name in its own right across Germany, Italy and the Arabic-speaking world.
- Mimi — A family-level nickname rather than a school one, common in Greek and Italian households.
- Melly — Informal and mostly used by parents and close friends in childhood.
- Also Meli.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Briana if you want…
- a name holding steadyBriana is holding its place on the charts
Choose Melina if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Melina from Briana.
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Briana
Strengths
- Short forms already in circulation — Bri, Bree, Bria — none of which need explaining.
- Sits in a long Irish naming line through Brian, with a record stretching back to the early Middle Ages.
- Every syllable is spelled the way it sounds, so it survives being read aloud by strangers.
To consider
- Brianna, with two n's, has long been the more common spelling. Expect a lifetime of "one n" corrections on forms, name tags and email addresses.
- Two pronunciations circulate — bree-AH-nuh and bree-AN-uh — and people will guess wrong roughly half the time until told.
- The name clusters strongly among adults now in their twenties and thirties, so a child named Briana is likelier to meet grown women with the name than classmates.
Melina
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, and short enough that no one has to ask twice how it is written.
- Works unchanged in Greek, Italian, Spanish and German, which matters in a family that spans more than one of them.
- Short forms are already established — Mel, Lina, Meli — so nothing has to be invented.
To consider
- It sits close to Melinda, Melanie, Malina and Melania, and will occasionally be heard or written as one of those. A clear first introduction usually settles it.
- In medical settings, 'melena' is a clinical term with a similar sound. It is a narrow overlap, unlikely to surface in daily life, but worth knowing about in advance rather than later.
- Mel, the most natural short form, belongs equally to several other names, so it does not point back to Melina on its own.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Briana and Melina in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Briana and Melina?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
Where Briana and Melina each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Briana or Melina — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Briana or Melina?
- Melina, in 2025: Melina ranked #660 with 434 babies; Briana ranked #661 with 431 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Briana or Melina?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Briana moved down 47 places; Melina moved down 12 places.
- Which is the older name, Briana or Melina?
- Briana entered the US charts in 1950; Melina entered the US charts in 1883. On the American record, Melina is the older name.
- How many people are named Briana and Melina?
- About 95,500 people named Briana are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 19,500 people named Melina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Brianas or Melinas in the classroom?
- Briana will almost certainly be the only one in school. Melina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Briana, Melina and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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