Meleah
Feminine · “Greek melia”
The Meliae were ash-tree nymphs, born from the blood of Uranus when Cronus castrated him. Greek melia is an ash tree and also, by extension, a spear, because ash was the wood spears were made from. Hesiod says the third race of men was made from ash trees, which is why the metaphor runs both ways.
How old is the name Meleah?
Meleah first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Meleah alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 1,500 people named Meleah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Meleah most popular?
Meleah peaked in 1978, reaching #2801 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 6,059 places below that high. See the whole 1978 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From melia to Meleah
The story of Meleah
Ash was the standard spear wood across the ancient Mediterranean and northern Europe, being straight-grained, strong and springy, and the association is embedded in several languages. Greek melia means both the tree and the weapon. Old English aesc does the same, so an Anglo-Saxon poem can call a warrior an ash-bearer, and the word gives Ashford, Ashley and the rune name. In Norse myth the world tree Yggdrasil is an ash and the first man, Ask, is made from one. Hesiod's account of the ages of man has the bronze race born from ash trees, and the Meliae, born from the blood that fell on the earth, are their mothers in some readings. The chain from a tree to a weapon to a race of warriors is made by every one of these traditions independently, because the same tree grew everywhere and did the same job.
Meaningscholars disagree
Greek melia, an ash tree
Meleah is most likely a respelling of Melia or a short form of Amelia. Greek melia is an ash tree and, by extension, a spear made of ash wood; the Meliae are ash nymphs in Hesiod. Amelia is separately Germanic, from an element meaning work or labor, and is unrelated to the Latin Emilia. Which lies behind an American bearer is not recoverable. It peaks in 1978.
How the name formed
- melia
- Melia
- Meleah
Related forms: Melia · Melia
Pronouncing Meleah
muh-LEE-ah
Three syllables, stress on the second. MEE-lee-ah with the stress at the front is also heard. The terminal h is silent and marks the final vowel as full.
Nicknames for Meleah
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
- 200749 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2801reached in 1978
- Change vs 2024
- −15.4%11 in 2025, from 13
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.
Meleah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Melia in English — spelling variant
- Melia in Greek — transliteration
Meleahs among us
people named Meleah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Meleah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Meleah
- #8860
- Meleah on the 2025 chart
- #935
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Meleah went to 11 girls in 2025, but Melea is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 25, which makes it the 935th most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,925 places above the chart.
- Melea14
- Meleah11
About 1 girl in 64,291 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 146,115 for Meleah itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jae test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Meleah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jae climbed just as high around 1952, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jae's path sketches the road Meleah is walking now.
Meleah 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
Meleah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Meleah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Greek word is settled and the mythology behind it is vivid.
- Mel and Lea are two very different short forms.
- The sound is soft and easy to say.
- Melia and Amelia are both more common.
- Two stress patterns circulate.
- Which of two unrelated sources applies is not recoverable.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Meleah to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Meleah? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Meleah
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Meleahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Meleah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Meleah?
- Meleah is one of 2 recorded spellings. Melea is the more common one — 14 births in 2025 against 11 for Meleah.
- How popular is the name Meleah in 2025?
- Meleah ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Meleah?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Meleah — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Meleah with classmates?
- Meleah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Meleah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Meleah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Meleah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle