Melina
Feminine · Greek roots · “honey”
Melina carries the Greek word for honey inside it — the same *meli* that stands behind Melissa, the bee. It has been spoken in Greece, southern Italy and the Spanish-speaking world for generations, and has held a quiet, unbroken place in American records for well over a century. Three syllables, all of them open: meh-LEE-nah.
How old is the name Melina?
Melina first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Melina alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 19,500 people named Melina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Melina most popular?
Melina peaked in 2009, reaching #456 nationally. Today it ranks #660, 204 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Where it comes from
From meli (Greek, 'honey') to Melina
The story of Melina
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. The Greek actress and later culture minister Melina Mercouri carried it to international audiences in the twentieth century, and the name traveled with immigration into the United States, where it has appeared steadily in the records ever since.
Meaningscholars disagree
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.
How the name formed
- meliGreek, 'honey'
- Melina
- Mélina
Related forms: Μελίνα · Melina · Melina · Mélina · Melina · Michalina
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Melina
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
- 1883
- Most girls named
- 2008598 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #456reached in 2009
- Change vs 2023
- −3.1%434 in 2025, from 448
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.
Melina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Μελίνα in Greek — transliteration
- Melina in Italian — same name
- Melina in Spanish — same name
- Mélina in French — spelling variant
- Melina in German — same name
- Michalina in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Melinas among us
people named Melina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,703 born in 2025 was named Melina
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 Alfreda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Melina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alfreda climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alfreda's path sketches the road Melina is walking now.
Melina 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 Melina is headed
Melina should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Melina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Melina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- More than a century of continuous American use behind it, without ever becoming a crowded classroom name.
- 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.
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What they receive
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Melina
Feminine · Greek roots · #660 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Melinas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 19,500 people named Melina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Melina in 2025?
- Melina ranks #660 among US girl names in 2025, with 434 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Melina?
- About 1 in every 3,703 US girls born in 2025 was named Melina — 434 in all.
- Will my child share the name Melina with classmates?
- Melina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Melina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Briana#661 · Noor#659 · Legacy#662 · Myra#662 · Hana#657 · Aleena#657 · Isabela#664 · Jessica#665
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Melina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Melina and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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