Melrose
Feminine · “bare moor”
Melrose is given to both — 1,180 girls and 51 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Melrose is a Scottish abbey town on the Tweed, and its name is older than either the abbey or English — it is Brittonic, and it means the bare moor.
How old is the name Melrose?
Melrose first appears in US birth records in 1902 — 123 years ago. The typical Melrose alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 700 people named Melrose are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Melrose most popular?
Melrose peaked in 1926, reaching #1357 nationally. Today it ranks #3832, 2,475 places below that high. See the whole 1926 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From mailros to Melrose
The story of Melrose
Old Melrose was a monastery on a loop of the Tweed where Cuthbert began his monastic life in the seventh century, and the great Cistercian abbey a few miles away took the name in the twelfth. Robert the Bruce's heart is said to be buried there. Its use as a given name is American and recent, though a Los Angeles avenue and a Massachusetts city both carry it and account for much of the recognition.
Meaning
bare moor, bare promontory
From Brittonic mailros, joining a word for bald or bare to one for a moor or promontory; the language is the Celtic one spoken in southern Scotland before Gaelic and English arrived, and the name survives from it.
How the name formed
- mailros
- Melrose
Related forms: Melrose · Moelrhos
Pronouncing Melrose
MEL-rohz
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Melrose
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
- 1902
- Most girls named
- 202450 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1357reached in 1926
- Change vs 2024
- −24.0%38 in 2025, from 50
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.
Melrose in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Melrose in Scots — same name
- Moelrhos in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Melroses among us
people named Melrose are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 42,297 born in 2025 was named Melrose
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 Bernece test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Melrose's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bernece climbed just as high around 1908, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bernece's path sketches the road Melrose is walking now.
Melrose 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 Melrose is headed
Melrose looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 21% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Melrose beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Melrose in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mel and Rose are both complete names in their own right.
- A settled meaning in a language that has otherwise almost vanished.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- The rose in it is a coincidence of sound, not part of the meaning.
- A Los Angeles avenue is the first association for many Americans.
- Seven letters is a fair amount for early handwriting.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Melrose
Feminine · #3832 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Melroses are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Melrose are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Melrose in 2025?
- Melrose ranks #3832 among US girl names in 2025, with 38 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Melrose?
- About 1 in every 42,297 US girls born in 2025 was named Melrose — 38 in all.
- Will my child share the name Melrose with classmates?
- Melrose will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Melrose
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nohemi#3832 · Yadira#3832 · Quincey#3832 · Yohanna#3832 · Aurielle#3832 · Anslee#3832 · Anagha#3832 · Corrine#3832
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Melrose? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Melrose and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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