Meliza
Feminine · “bee”
Melissa is a bee. The Greek word is exactly that — melissa, a honeybee, built on meli, honey — and it was the title given to the priestesses of certain temples as well as an ordinary name. Meliza is the Spanish-influenced spelling, where a z and an s do the same job and choosing between them is a matter of habit rather than sound.
How old is the name Meliza?
Meliza first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Meliza alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,000 people named Meliza are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Meliza most popular?
Meliza peaked in 1997, reaching #2590 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 10,618 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From melissa to Meliza
The story of Meliza
Melissa entered English use in the Renaissance through Italian romance poetry, where it belonged to a benevolent enchantress, and became very widely given in twentieth-century America. Spanish-speaking families took it up too, and Spanish spelling has no reason to prefer s over z between vowels — the two letters make the same sound across Latin America. Meliza is the result, and it appears in American records from the 1960s, rising through the 1990s alongside the standard spelling.
Meaning
bee
From the Greek melissa, a honeybee, from meli, honey — the same root behind mellifluous. In Greek myth Melissa is a nymph who discovers honey, and the word was used for the priestesses at Delphi and elsewhere. The connection between bees and prophecy in Greek religion is old and not fully explained.
How the name formed
- melissa
- Melissa
- Meliza
Related forms: Melissa · Melisa · Melissa
Pronouncing Meliza
meh-LEE-sah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. In Latin American Spanish the z is said as an s, so this spelling and Melisa sound identical; in Spain the z would be a th, which is why the s-spelling is preferred there.
Nicknames for Meliza
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 199749 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2590reached in 1997
- Change vs 2023
- +20.0%6 in 2025, from 5
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.
Meliza in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Melissa in Greek — transliteration
- Melisa in Spanish — spelling variant
- Melissa in Italian — same name
Melizas among us
people named Meliza are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Meliza
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Meliza
- #13208
- Meliza on the 2025 chart
- #897
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Meliza went to 6 girls in 2025, but Melisa is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 63, which makes it the 897th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,311 places above the chart.
- Melisa57
- Meliza6
About 1 girl in 25,512 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Meliza 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 Katherleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Meliza's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Katherleen climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Katherleen's path sketches the road Meliza is walking now.
Meliza 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
Meliza beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Meliza in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a single concrete creature and takes one word to give.
- Meli, Liza and Mel are all available and belong to three different registers.
- It works in Spanish and English without respelling.
- The Greek word is still the scientific name of a plant genus, which keeps it alive.
- Melissa and Melisa are both commoner and will be written instead.
- In Spain the z would change the sound, so European relatives may find it odd.
- The name family was very heavily used in one stretch of decades.
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What they receive
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Meliza
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Melizas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Meliza are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Meliza?
- Meliza is one of 2 recorded spellings. Melisa is the more common one — 57 births in 2025 against 6 for Meliza.
- How popular is the name Meliza in 2025?
- Meliza ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Meliza?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Meliza — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Meliza with classmates?
- Meliza will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Meliza
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Meliza? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Meliza and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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