Melita
Feminine · “possibly honey”
Melita is what the Romans called Malta. It is the name in the shipwreck account in Acts, it appears on ancient coins and in the geographers, and one of the two standard explanations for it involves bees — the island was known for honey, and the Greek for honey is very close.
How old is the name Melita?
Melita first appears in US birth records in 1894 — 131 years ago. The typical Melita alive today was born around 1967, making them about 58 years old. About 1,400 people named Melita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Melita most popular?
Melita peaked in 1894, reaching #1353 nationally. See the whole 1894 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Melite to Melita
The story of Melita
The language spoken there is unique in Europe. Maltese descends from Arabic — specifically from the Arabic of Sicily, brought in the ninth century and cut off when the island changed hands — and it has absorbed enormous quantities of Italian and English vocabulary since. What makes it singular is the alphabet: it is the only Semitic language written in Latin letters as its standard, official script, which means a European Union working language has a grammar with broken plurals and triliteral roots and a spelling that looks vaguely Italian. Nothing else in the world is arranged that way.
Meaningscholars disagree
possibly honey, or possibly refuge
Two derivations compete: a Greek one from the word for honey and a Phoenician one from a root meaning shelter or refuge. Both suit the island and neither can be established.
How the name formed
- Melite
- Melita
Related forms: Melita · Melitta
Pronouncing Melita
meh-LEE-tuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Some families front the stress and say MEL-i-tuh, and the spelling supports either.
Nicknames for Melita
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
- 1894
- Most girls named
- 197845 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1353reached in 1894
- Change vs 2021
- −16.7%5 in 2023, from 6
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.
Melita in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Melita in Italian — same name
- Melitta in German — spelling variant
Melitas among us
people named Melita 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
Melita 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 names a real and very old place rather than an invented one.
- Lita sits inside it as a short form used across several languages.
- The rhythm is even and the name carries well.
- The stress placement is unsettled and strangers will guess.
- The meaning is genuinely contested between two proposals.
- The generation that used it in America is now elderly.
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Melita
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Melitas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Melita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Melita in 2025?
- Melita is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Melita with classmates?
- Melita 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 Melita? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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