Melville
Masculine · “from a Norman place name”
Melville is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,269 boys against 14 girls since 1880.
The obvious explanation for this name is the wrong one. Herman Melville was not famous when American parents were using it; he was, by any commercial measure, a failure whose books had gone out of print. The name was doing well before anyone had a reason to think of him, and it faded before the world changed its mind.
How old is the name Melville?
Melville was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Melville alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 400 people named Melville are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Melville most popular?
Melville peaked in 1880, reaching #425 nationally. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Malleville to Melville
The story of Melville
Moby-Dick sold badly, was reviewed unkindly and left its author in obscurity for the rest of his life. He took a job as a customs inspector on the New York docks and held it for nearly twenty years. When he died the newspapers barely noticed, and one that did misspelled his name. The rediscovery came in the nineteen-twenties, when a new generation of critics and a centenary of his birth brought the books back into print and rebuilt his reputation almost from nothing. Seventy years separate the novel's failure from its author's fame. It is one of the clearest cases in literature of a reputation being made entirely after the fact, and it is the reason the name's history in America has nothing to do with him.
Meaning
from a Norman place name
The surname comes from a settlement in Normandy, brought to Britain after the Conquest and carried north into Scotland, where the family became established. The place name's own elements are not flattering, which is common enough among Norman village names.
How the name formed
- Malleville
- Melville
- Melvin
Pronouncing Melville
MEL-vil
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The ending is reduced and does not carry the French vowel it looks like it should.
Nicknames for Melville
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191877 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #425reached in 1880
- Change vs 1978
- 0.0%5 in 1981, 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.
Melvilles among us
people named Melville 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
Melville 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
- Mel is a short form that works in any register and for any age.
- It belongs to the surname-name tradition without being a common example of it.
- The spelling is unambiguous and the sound follows it exactly.
- The record holds both sexes, and this spelling now appears mostly on girls, which the Victorian surname does not prepare anyone for.
- The generation that used it in America is now extremely old.
- The literary association is strong and will be assumed whether it applies or not.
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What they receive
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Melville
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Melvilles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Melville are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Melville in 2025?
- Melville is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Melville with classmates?
- Melville will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Michael#21 · Matthew#32 · Mark#244 · Mason#39 · Martin#335 · Marvin#699 · Melvin#958 · Marcus#258
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Melville? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Melville and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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