Melba
Melba was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,732 among girls’ names; 34,925 Americans have been recorded with it since 1893 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 10,600 Americans named Melba and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (30% of everyone recorded); the median is 76 years old and half are between 67 and 84.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Melba by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Melba mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Melba is “a female given name from English.”
Coined by Nellie Melba as a pseudonym; derived from Melbourne.
/ˈmɛlbə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Melba?
#12,732 among girls’ names, 2025
Melba entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #12,732 in 2025.
1,003 babies in 1924, the peak
Melba peaked in 1924, when 1,003 babies were given it (998 girls, #202 among girls’ names). The 7 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,732 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 8 | #11,789 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 11 | #9,441 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 5 | #16,698 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 8 | #12,380 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 10 | #10,597 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 5 | #18,325 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 5 | #18,356 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 6 | #16,563 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 6 | #16,786 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (121)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 8 | #12,360 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 7 | #13,149 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 6 | #14,717 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 17 | #6,385 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 9 | #10,039 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 9 | #9,821 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 8 | #10,446 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 9 | #9,301 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,511 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 16 | #5,887 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 10 | #8,469 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 17 | #5,631 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 18 | #5,313 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 23 | #4,328 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 22 | #4,314 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 23 | #3,974 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 35 | #2,821 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 28 | #3,238 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 18 | #4,380 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 28 | #3,114 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 36 | #2,535 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 35 | #2,678 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 40 | #2,432 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 46 | #2,206 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 47 | #2,135 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 61 | #1,717 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 51 | #1,940 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 64 | #1,581 | 0.04 |
| 1975 | 69 | #1,493 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 65 | #1,511 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 85 | #1,234 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 113 | #1,035 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 87 | #1,275 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 94 | #1,205 | 0.05 |
| 1969 | 77 | #1,286 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 81 | #1,218 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 105 | #1,000 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 125 | #904 | 0.07 |
| 1965 | 144 | #830 | 0.08 |
| 1964 | 142 | #871 | 0.07 |
| 1963 | 183 | #760 | 0.09 |
| 1962 | 188 | #759 | 0.10 |
| 1961 | 238 | #669 | 0.12 |
| 1960 | 255 | #634 | 0.13 |
| 1959 | 265 | #612 | 0.13 |
| 1958 | 294 | #576 | 0.15 |
| 1957 | 388 | #484 | 0.19 |
| 1956 | 358 | #494 | 0.18 |
| 1955 | 404 | #445 | 0.21 |
| 1954 | 439 | #411 | 0.23 |
| 1953 | 460 | #394 | 0.24 |
| 1952 | 368 | #447 | 0.20 |
| 1951 | 423 | #398 | 0.23 |
| 1950 | 393 | #402 | 0.23 |
| 1949 | 427 | #378 | 0.25 |
| 1948 | 454 | #370 | 0.27 |
| 1947 | 523 | #349 | 0.30 |
| 1946 | 529 | #325 | 0.34 |
| 1945 | 502 | #306 | 0.38 |
| 1944 | 565 | #288 | 0.43 |
| 1943 | 597 | #286 | 0.43 |
| 1942 | 648 | #274 | 0.48 |
| 1941 | 715 | #242 | 0.59 |
| 1940 | 731 | #232 | 0.64 |
| 1939 | 781 | #213 | 0.71 |
| 1938 | 850 | #206 | 0.77 |
| 1937 | 789 | #212 | 0.74 |
| 1936 | 721 | #226 | 0.69 |
| 1935 | 758 | #225 | 0.72 |
| 1934 | 771 | #224 | 0.74 |
| 1933 | 776 | #217 | 0.77 |
| 1932 | 873 | #207 | 0.82 |
| 1931 | 770 | #217 | 0.72 |
| 1930 | 862 | #210 | 0.77 |
| 1929 | 817 | #217 | 0.73 |
| 1928 | 868 | #214 | 0.75 |
| 1927 | 892 | #213 | 0.75 |
| 1926 | 918 | #208 | 0.77 |
| 1925 | 938 | #210 | 0.77 |
| 1924 | 998 | #202 | 0.80 |
| 1923 | 922 | #211 | 0.76 |
| 1922 | 929 | #208 | 0.77 |
| 1921 | 910 | #210 | 0.74 |
| 1920 | 907 | #210 | 0.76 |
| 1919 | 791 | #221 | 0.70 |
| 1918 | 822 | #219 | 0.71 |
| 1917 | 701 | #234 | 0.65 |
| 1916 | 581 | #251 | 0.56 |
| 1915 | 493 | #264 | 0.50 |
| 1914 | 352 | #279 | 0.46 |
| 1913 | 274 | #286 | 0.44 |
| 1912 | 218 | #312 | 0.39 |
| 1911 | 146 | #328 | 0.35 |
| 1910 | 160 | #305 | 0.40 |
| 1909 | 123 | #327 | 0.35 |
| 1908 | 106 | #346 | 0.32 |
| 1907 | 113 | #327 | 0.35 |
| 1906 | 98 | #338 | 0.33 |
| 1905 | 102 | #337 | 0.35 |
| 1904 | 61 | #417 | 0.22 |
| 1903 | 45 | #479 | 0.17 |
| 1902 | 35 | #556 | 0.13 |
| 1901 | 36 | #512 | 0.15 |
| 1900 | 44 | #512 | 0.15 |
| 1899 | 46 | #431 | 0.20 |
| 1898 | 60 | #399 | 0.23 |
| 1897 | 36 | #485 | 0.15 |
| 1896 | 33 | #524 | 0.14 |
| 1895 | 19 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1894 | 15 | #807 | 0.07 |
| 1893 | 7 | #1,256 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Melba a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Melba has been given almost only to girls: 52 boys in 121 years of records.
Girls and boys named Melba: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Melba, and how old are they?
10,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 30% of the 34,925 Americans ever recorded as Melba. The median Melba alive today is 76 years old; half are between 67 and 84.
The 2020 Census counted 15,851 people named Melba (15,814 women and girls, 37 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 14,057 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3,700 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 5,070 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,210 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 357 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 75 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 59 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Melba born?
The states with the most babies named Melba are Texas, Missouri and Arkansas, with 32% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Missouri and Arkansas are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 5,944 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Missouri | 2,103 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Arkansas | 1,851 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Louisiana | 1,827 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Alabama | 1,759 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Oklahoma | 1,758 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Georgia | 1,747 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| North Carolina | 1,627 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Tennessee | 1,460 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 1,382 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Melba is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Melba is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 3.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Melba with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Melba
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Melba and names like it
- Compare Melba and LoisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sMelba peaked in 1924.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Melba since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Melba: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1924The year the most babies were named Melba.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Melba alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.