Mellissa
Mellissa was last recorded in 2018, when 5 babies were given it; 5,625 Americans have been recorded with it between 1926 and 2018 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,300 Americans named Mellissa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 40 and 54.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mellissa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mellissa mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Mellissa is “a female given name from Ancient Greek, a nonstandard spelling variant of Melissa.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mellissa?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,328, in 2018; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
272 babies in 1979, the peak
Mellissa peaked in 1979, when 272 girls were given it, #641 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 5 | #17,328 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 8 | #12,500 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #16,229 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 10 | #10,916 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 13 | #9,060 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 11 | #10,426 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 17 | #7,631 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 17 | #7,631 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 22 | #6,059 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 15 | #7,771 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (67)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 20 | #6,132 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 21 | #5,724 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 28 | #4,464 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 25 | #4,781 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 25 | #4,736 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 36 | #3,476 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 44 | #2,952 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 42 | #2,913 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 60 | #2,242 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 67 | #2,038 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 62 | #2,171 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 70 | #1,998 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 96 | #1,607 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 98 | #1,565 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 129 | #1,265 | 0.07 |
| 1989 | 117 | #1,328 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 146 | #1,081 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 144 | #1,068 | 0.08 |
| 1986 | 135 | #1,102 | 0.08 |
| 1985 | 185 | #870 | 0.11 |
| 1984 | 155 | #947 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 173 | #878 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 197 | #809 | 0.12 |
| 1981 | 228 | #726 | 0.14 |
| 1980 | 250 | #691 | 0.15 |
| 1979 | 272 | #641 | 0.17 |
| 1978 | 218 | #725 | 0.14 |
| 1977 | 230 | #682 | 0.15 |
| 1976 | 169 | #823 | 0.12 |
| 1975 | 171 | #806 | 0.12 |
| 1974 | 166 | #812 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 175 | #769 | 0.12 |
| 1972 | 172 | #795 | 0.11 |
| 1971 | 157 | #860 | 0.09 |
| 1970 | 191 | #763 | 0.11 |
| 1969 | 173 | #778 | 0.10 |
| 1968 | 172 | #758 | 0.10 |
| 1967 | 147 | #830 | 0.09 |
| 1966 | 113 | #957 | 0.07 |
| 1965 | 69 | #1,316 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 50 | #1,622 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 50 | #1,614 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 33 | #2,055 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 39 | #1,857 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 28 | #2,229 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 26 | #2,269 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 20 | #2,631 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 16 | #2,997 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 20 | #2,590 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 11 | #3,715 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 12 | #3,439 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 13 | #3,219 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 7 | #4,784 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 11 | #3,416 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,596 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 5 | #5,129 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 5 | #5,369 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Mellissa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mellissa has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 67 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Mellissa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mellissa, and how old are they?
5,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 5,625 Americans ever recorded as Mellissa. The median Mellissa alive today is 47 years old; half are between 40 and 54.
The 2020 Census counted 5,449 people named Mellissa (5,441 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,391 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 286 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,650 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 348 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 13 |
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 Mellissa born?
The states with the most babies named Mellissa are California, Texas and Ohio, with 37% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 636 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 292 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 272 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 265 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Florida | 225 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 225 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 168 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 164 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Massachusetts | 141 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 113 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Mellissa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Mellissa is most over-represented in Florida: since 1926 it was given 1.1 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 Mellissa with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 796,668 babies since 1880, Mellissa is the third most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 804 babies recorded by SSA was a Mellissa (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 Mellissa
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 Mellissa and names like it
- Compare Mellissa and MelissaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sMellissa peaked in 1979.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mellissa since 1910.
- The top names of 1979The year the most babies were named Mellissa.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Mellissa alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with MMost given first.