Melda
Feminine
Melda is cut from the middle or the end of a longer name, and there are two candidates with completely different histories. Imelda is Germanic, a compound that only Italy and later the Philippines kept in use. Esmeralda is Spanish for an emerald and was put into general circulation by a French novel about a cathedral.
How old is the name Melda?
Melda first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Melda alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 500 people named Melda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Melda most popular?
Melda peaked in 1900, reaching #1008 nationally. See the whole 1900 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Germanic compound kept in Italy as Imelda to Melda
The story of Melda
The novel was published in eighteen thirty-one and its actual subject was a building. The author was appalled at the state of medieval architecture in France, which was being demolished, altered and left to rot, and he wrote a very long book with a cathedral at the center of it to make people care. It worked: the restoration campaign that followed saved the building, and the book is why the cathedral is famous. The girl at the center of the story carries a name that is simply the Spanish word for an emerald, given to her for a jewel she wears, and the name escaped the novel and became a real one across southern Europe and Latin America. A book written to save a church supplied a name to several generations who never read it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Two possible parents with unrelated meanings. Imelda joins two Germanic elements, one about universality and one about battle. Esmeralda is the Spanish word for the gemstone, which reached Spanish from Greek by way of Latin. A clipping takes whichever parent you assign it, and the spelling here records nothing that would let you choose between them.
How the name formed
- A Germanic compound kept in Italy as Imelda
- A Spanish gem word put into circulation by a French novel
- Both producing the same clipping
- Melda in American registers from the eighteen eighties
Related forms: Imelda · Esmeralda
Pronouncing Melda
MEL-duh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Both possible parent names put the stress on the syllable this clipping takes, which is why the short form sounds settled rather than truncated.
Nicknames for Melda
Moderate
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
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 192544 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1008reached in 1900
- Change vs 1971
- −14.3%6 in 1975, from 7
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.
Melda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Imelda in Italian — related form
- Esmeralda in Spanish — related form
Meldas among us
people named Melda are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Melda sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short, clear and immediately sayable with no ambiguity.
- Mel is available immediately and is completely unremarkable.
- It is rare enough now to be effectively unshared.
- It reads as a clipping, and people will ask what it is short for.
- Two possible parent names mean two unrelated answers about meaning.
- It is very firmly of the turn of the twentieth century.
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Melda
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Meldas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Melda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Melda in 2025?
- Melda is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Melda with classmates?
- Melda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Melda? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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