Melania
Feminine · “Black”
Melania is the Latin form of a Greek name, worn by two Roman Christian noblewomen of late antiquity and kept alive in Italian, Spanish, Polish and Slovene ever since. In English it is the older sister of the far more familiar Melanie — four syllables where Melanie has three, with the vowels opening out at the end. It has been on American records for over a century without ever crowding a classroom.
How old is the name Melania?
Melania first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Melania is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,400 people named Melania are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Melania most popular?
Melania peaked in 2017, reaching #932 nationally. Today it ranks #1170, 238 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Melania appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Melaina to Melania
The story of Melania
The name begins in Greek, from melaina, the feminine of melas, 'black'. It reached lasting use through two Roman women of the late fourth and early fifth centuries, Melania the Elder and her granddaughter Melania the Younger, both wealthy Christians who gave away vast estates and founded monastic communities; their veneration carried the name through Latin Christendom. French shortened and softened it into Mélanie, which English borrowed as Melanie, while the fuller Melania stayed in ordinary use in Italy, Spain, Poland and the Slavic-speaking south. In the United States both forms have circulated for generations, with Melanie always the more common of the two.
Meaning
Black, dark
From Greek melas, melaina, 'black' or 'dark' — the same root behind words like melanin. In late antiquity it was read as a name for dark hair or complexion.
How the name formed
- Melaina
- Melania
- Mélanie
- Melanie
Related forms: Melanie · Mélanie · Melania · Melania · Melanija · Melaniya
Pronouncing Melania
meh-LAH-nee-ah
Four syllables, stress on the second. Some American speakers say meh-LAN-ee-ah with the flatter vowel of Melanie. Both are heard; whichever you use, expect to state it once when meeting someone new.
Nicknames for Melania
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 2018233 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #932reached in 2017
- Change vs 2023
- +75.2%198 in 2025, from 113
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Melania in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Melanie in English — related form
- Mélanie in French — same name
- Melania in Italian — same name
- Melania in Polish — same name
- Melanija in Slovene — spelling variant
- Melaniya in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Florida.
Melanias among us
people named Melania are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 8,118 born in 2025 was named Melania
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Somer test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Melania's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Somer climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Somer's path sketches the road Melania is walking now.
Melania sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Melania is headed
Melania is easing off slowly — about 18% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Melania beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Melania in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented record stretching back to late antiquity, with the same spelling still in ordinary use today.
- Recognizable everywhere because of Melanie — people may not spell it right first time, but nobody finds it strange.
- Works across Italian, Spanish, Polish and Slovene without alteration, which matters in a multilingual family.
- Established short forms already in use: Mel, Lani, Mela.
- The best-known American bearer is a recent First Lady, and in the United States the name currently arrives with that association attached. It is worth deciding how you feel about that now rather than being surprised by it later.
- Melanie is much more familiar in English, so the final syllable will get dropped in writing and in speech fairly often. A lifetime of gentle correction comes with it.
- The meaning, 'dark' or 'black', is straightforward and old, but it does invite the occasional question from people who look it up.
- In the US the name's recent bearers are mostly children, so it currently reads young here — though in Italy and Poland it has been in continuous adult use for generations.
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What they receive
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Melania
Feminine · #1170 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Melanias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,400 people named Melania are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Melania in 2025?
- Melania ranks #1170 among US girl names in 2025, with 198 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Melania?
- About 1 in every 8,118 US girls born in 2025 was named Melania — 198 in all.
- Will my child share the name Melania with classmates?
- Melania will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Melania
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hadleigh#1170 · Avalynn#1170 · Elyana#1173 · Kassandra#1173 · Dalilah#1173 · Carson#1173 · Susanna#1173 · Scarlette#1173
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Melania? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Melania and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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