Melda
Melda was last recorded in 1975, when 6 babies were given it; 1,487 Americans have been recorded with it between 1887 and 1975 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Melda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Melda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,649, in 1975; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
44 babies in 1925, the peak
Melda peaked in 1925, when 44 girls were given it, #1,173 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 6 | #8,649 | 4.1 |
| 1972 | 7 | #7,006 | 4.6 |
| 1971 | 7 | #7,085 | 4.2 |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,796 | 4.0 |
| 1969 | 8 | #5,789 | 4.7 |
| 1968 | 9 | #5,019 | 5.5 |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,851 | 5.5 |
| 1966 | 6 | #6,303 | 3.5 |
| 1965 | 10 | #4,403 | 5.7 |
| 1964 | 9 | #4,865 | 4.7 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | 11 | #4,175 | 5.7 |
| 1962 | 8 | #5,146 | 4.1 |
| 1961 | 9 | #4,778 | 4.5 |
| 1960 | 15 | #3,307 | 7.4 |
| 1959 | 15 | #3,208 | 7.4 |
| 1958 | 24 | #2,359 | 11.9 |
| 1957 | 20 | #2,619 | 9.8 |
| 1956 | 23 | #2,358 | 11.5 |
| 1955 | 16 | #2,916 | 8.2 |
| 1954 | 17 | #2,761 | 8.8 |
| 1953 | 15 | #2,890 | 8.0 |
| 1952 | 19 | #2,476 | 10.2 |
| 1951 | 19 | #2,361 | 10.6 |
| 1950 | 20 | #2,226 | 11.7 |
| 1949 | 18 | #2,384 | 10.5 |
| 1948 | 20 | #2,226 | 11.8 |
| 1947 | 14 | #2,856 | 7.9 |
| 1946 | 27 | #1,755 | 17.2 |
| 1945 | 17 | #2,125 | 13.0 |
| 1944 | 18 | #2,067 | 13.6 |
| 1943 | 25 | #1,738 | 17.9 |
| 1942 | 26 | #1,654 | 19.2 |
| 1941 | 20 | #1,858 | 16.6 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,071 | 14.0 |
| 1939 | 25 | #1,534 | 22.8 |
| 1938 | 18 | #1,920 | 16.3 |
| 1937 | 31 | #1,323 | 29.1 |
| 1936 | 17 | #1,929 | 16.3 |
| 1935 | 24 | #1,533 | 22.9 |
| 1934 | 25 | #1,503 | 23.9 |
| 1933 | 24 | #1,537 | 23.8 |
| 1932 | 19 | #1,859 | 17.8 |
| 1931 | 29 | #1,386 | 27.2 |
| 1930 | 26 | #1,556 | 23.1 |
| 1929 | 33 | #1,325 | 29.6 |
| 1928 | 44 | #1,158 | 38.2 |
| 1927 | 31 | #1,475 | 26.0 |
| 1926 | 35 | #1,349 | 29.5 |
| 1925 | 44 | #1,173 | 36.1 |
| 1924 | 30 | #1,553 | 24.0 |
| 1923 | 24 | #1,760 | 19.9 |
| 1922 | 31 | #1,493 | 25.8 |
| 1921 | 37 | #1,288 | 30.0 |
| 1920 | 40 | #1,224 | 33.4 |
| 1919 | 32 | #1,386 | 28.3 |
| 1918 | 39 | #1,210 | 33.7 |
| 1917 | 38 | #1,173 | 35.1 |
| 1916 | 26 | #1,472 | 24.9 |
| 1915 | 32 | #1,246 | 32.5 |
| 1914 | 24 | #1,291 | 31.5 |
| 1913 | 16 | #1,505 | 25.6 |
| 1912 | 22 | #1,137 | 39.4 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,742 | 21.5 |
| 1910 | 11 | #1,484 | 27.7 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,703 | 23.0 |
| 1908 | 12 | #1,249 | 35.9 |
| 1907 | 10 | #1,352 | 31.4 |
| 1906 | 8 | #1,512 | 27.1 |
| 1905 | 13 | #1,084 | 44.6 |
| 1904 | 9 | #1,334 | 32.7 |
| 1903 | 9 | #1,277 | 34.4 |
| 1902 | 12 | #1,058 | 45.4 |
| 1901 | 7 | #1,422 | 29.2 |
| 1900 | 14 | #1,042 | 46.7 |
| 1898 | 8 | #1,343 | 30.9 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,492 | 25.6 |
| 1896 | 7 | #1,380 | 29.4 |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,533 | 25.7 |
| 1891 | 7 | #1,171 | 37.7 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,249 | 34.3 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Melda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Melda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 80 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Melda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Melda, and how old are they?
An estimated 426 Americans named Melda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (29% of everyone recorded); the median is 74 years old and half are between 66 and 82. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 843 people named Melda (835 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 549 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 times 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.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 119,412 babies since 1880, Melda is the third most given (1.2% of them). In 2025 none of their 3,148 babies recorded by SSA was a Melda (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Melda
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 Melda and names like it
- Compare Melda and MelodyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sMelda peaked in 1925.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Melda since 1910.
- The top names of 1925The year the most babies were named Melda.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Melda alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.