Mele
Feminine · “Hawaiian mele”
Hawaiian has thirteen letters and no closed syllables. Every syllable ends in a vowel, and every borrowed word must be rebuilt to obey that. Mary becomes Mele, John becomes Keoni, Elizabeth becomes Elikapeki. The language does not accept a foreign name; it remakes it, and the result is a genuinely Hawaiian word.
How old is the name Mele?
Mele first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Mele alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 900 people named Mele are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mele most popular?
Mele peaked in 1991, reaching #3301 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 4,584 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Where it comes from
From Maria to Mele
The story of Mele
The Hawaiian sound system has five vowels and eight consonants, one of which is the glottal stop. There is no s, no r, no t as English uses it, no b, d, f, g, j, q, v, x, y or z, and no consonant may close a syllable. When American missionaries devised the written language in the 1820s and began translating scripture, every biblical name had to be run through those constraints. Mary lost its r, which became l, and gained a final vowel: Mele. Joseph became Iokepa. Jerusalem became Ierusalema. The results look nothing like their sources and are perfectly regular, which is why a Hawaiian speaker can often reconstruct the English original from the Hawaiian form. Mele is unusual among them in landing on a word the language already had, and a good one: the chant tradition is central to Hawaiian culture and mele is its name.
Meaning
Hawaiian mele, a song or chant
Mele is a Hawaiian word meaning a song, chant or poem, and mele is also the Hawaiian rendering of the name Mary, which arrived with missionaries in the 1820s. The two coincide, so the name is at once a native noun and a borrowed name. Mele is also the Tongan and Samoan form of Mary. The 1991 American peak reflects Pacific Islander families rather than any wider fashion.
How the name formed
- Maria
- Mele
Related forms: Mele · Mele · Mele
Pronouncing Mele
MEH-leh
Two syllables, stress on the first, both vowels short and pure. It is not MEE-lee or MELL. English speakers regularly reduce the second vowel, which Hawaiian never does: every vowel in the language is fully pronounced.
Nicknames for Mele
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
- 1955
- Most girls named
- 199133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3301reached in 1991
- Change vs 2024
- +18.2%13 in 2025, from 11
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.
Mele in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mele in Hawaiian — same name
- Mele in Tongan — same name
- Mele in Samoan — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Utah, Hawaii.
Meles among us
people named Mele are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Mele
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 Tinia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mele's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tinia climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tinia's path sketches the road Mele is walking now.
Mele 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
Mele beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mele in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a real word in a living language with a settled and beautiful sense.
- The spelling is short and phonetically regular in its own language.
- It carries a documented history in Polynesian Christianity.
- English speakers reduce the final vowel or say MEE-lee.
- It is easily confused with Mel, Melle and Melly.
- Outside Pacific Islander communities it needs explaining.
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What they receive
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Mele
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Meles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Mele are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mele in 2025?
- Mele ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mele?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Mele — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mele with classmates?
- Mele will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mele
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mele? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mele and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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