Mellisa
Mellisa was last recorded in 2024, when 5 babies were given it; 4,575 Americans have been recorded with it between 1952 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,340 Americans named Mellisa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 46 years old and half are between 39 and 52.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mellisa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Mellisa?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #16,868, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
221 babies in 1979, the peak
Mellisa peaked in 1979, when 221 girls were given it, #740 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 5 | #16,868 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 5 | #17,570 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 6 | #15,586 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 5 | #18,332 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 6 | #15,891 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #16,228 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 5 | #18,911 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 15 | #8,319 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 7 | #14,865 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 12 | #9,966 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (63)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 17 | #7,380 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 12 | #9,250 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 23 | #5,490 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 19 | #6,225 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 19 | #6,046 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 26 | #4,641 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 34 | #3,779 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 33 | #3,689 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 37 | #3,330 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 51 | #2,540 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 56 | #2,358 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 56 | #2,353 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 59 | #2,239 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 74 | #1,909 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 71 | #1,955 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 92 | #1,633 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 112 | #1,414 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 107 | #1,400 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 120 | #1,243 | 0.07 |
| 1987 | 127 | #1,161 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 122 | #1,166 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 149 | #1,017 | 0.09 |
| 1984 | 145 | #999 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 174 | #873 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 182 | #855 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 211 | #778 | 0.13 |
| 1980 | 202 | #804 | 0.12 |
| 1979 | 221 | #740 | 0.14 |
| 1978 | 174 | #852 | 0.11 |
| 1977 | 175 | #847 | 0.11 |
| 1976 | 161 | #850 | 0.11 |
| 1975 | 148 | #892 | 0.10 |
| 1974 | 142 | #899 | 0.10 |
| 1973 | 130 | #938 | 0.09 |
| 1972 | 140 | #900 | 0.09 |
| 1971 | 154 | #876 | 0.09 |
| 1970 | 124 | #1,009 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 127 | #948 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 94 | #1,107 | 0.06 |
| 1967 | 98 | #1,042 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 58 | #1,459 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 53 | #1,538 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 38 | #1,934 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 26 | #2,399 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 15 | #3,384 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 19 | #2,917 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 23 | #2,555 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 12 | #3,752 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 11 | #3,863 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 12 | #3,608 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #5,627 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,537 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,334 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Mellisa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mellisa has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 63 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Mellisa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mellisa, and how old are they?
4,340 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 4,575 Americans ever recorded as Mellisa. The median Mellisa alive today is 46 years old; half are between 39 and 52.
The 2020 Census counted 5,645 people named Mellisa (5,634 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,402 born in the U.S. The Census count is 28% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 147 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,060 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,800 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 312 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 27 |
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 Mellisa born?
The states with the most babies named Mellisa are California, New York and Texas, with 45% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 547 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 279 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 252 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 192 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 158 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Florida | 145 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 134 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 123 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 75 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Massachusetts | 70 | not ranked | 0.6× |
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 Mellisa with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
How common is the spelling Mellisa?
Mellisa is a less common spelling of Melissa: SSA has recorded 4,575 Mellisa and 762,623 Melissa since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 794,721 babies since 1880, Mellisa is the fourth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 804 babies recorded by SSA was a Mellisa (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 Mellisa
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 Mellisa and names like it
- Compare Mellisa and MelissaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sMellisa peaked in 1979.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mellisa since 1910.
- The top names of 1979The year the most babies were named Mellisa.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Mellisa alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with MMost given first.