Melody
Melody was given to 3,095 girls in 2025, #79 among girls’ names; 115,084 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 106,000 Americans named Melody and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 11 and 60.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Melody by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Melody mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Melody is “a female given name from English.”
From the noun melody; in regular use since the 20th century.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Melody?
#79 among girls’ names, 2025
Melody rose from #148 in 2015 to #79 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 1.2 to 1.9 per 1,000.
3,095 babies in 2025, the peak
Melody peaked in 2025, when 3,095 girls were given it, #79 among girls’ names. In 2024 it went to 2,783 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3,095 | #79 | 1.9 |
| 2024 | 2,783 | #91 | 1.7 |
| 2023 | 2,572 | #103 | 1.6 |
| 2022 | 2,573 | #109 | 1.6 |
| 2021 | 2,466 | #113 | 1.5 |
| 2020 | 2,524 | #106 | 1.6 |
| 2019 | 2,466 | #118 | 1.5 |
| 2018 | 2,155 | #136 | 1.3 |
| 2017 | 2,072 | #144 | 1.2 |
| 2016 | 2,148 | #144 | 1.2 |
Every recorded year (103)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,178 | #148 | 1.2 |
| 2014 | 2,065 | #158 | 1.2 |
| 2013 | 1,867 | #172 | 1.1 |
| 2012 | 1,791 | #172 | 1.0 |
| 2011 | 1,562 | #201 | 0.89 |
| 2010 | 1,575 | #198 | 0.89 |
| 2009 | 1,452 | #226 | 0.79 |
| 2008 | 1,220 | #280 | 0.65 |
| 2007 | 1,143 | #296 | 0.59 |
| 2006 | 1,107 | #299 | 0.58 |
| 2005 | 1,040 | #311 | 0.56 |
| 2004 | 1,018 | #312 | 0.55 |
| 2003 | 1,023 | #303 | 0.56 |
| 2002 | 1,045 | #297 | 0.58 |
| 2001 | 1,080 | #290 | 0.60 |
| 2000 | 720 | #399 | 0.40 |
| 1999 | 627 | #436 | 0.35 |
| 1998 | 708 | #390 | 0.40 |
| 1997 | 736 | #370 | 0.42 |
| 1996 | 664 | #399 | 0.38 |
| 1995 | 708 | #369 | 0.40 |
| 1994 | 730 | #358 | 0.41 |
| 1993 | 731 | #353 | 0.40 |
| 1992 | 906 | #308 | 0.49 |
| 1991 | 850 | #319 | 0.45 |
| 1990 | 867 | #315 | 0.46 |
| 1989 | 881 | #296 | 0.48 |
| 1988 | 884 | #283 | 0.50 |
| 1987 | 906 | #270 | 0.52 |
| 1986 | 935 | #269 | 0.55 |
| 1985 | 967 | #259 | 0.56 |
| 1984 | 1,088 | #234 | 0.65 |
| 1983 | 1,107 | #225 | 0.66 |
| 1982 | 1,115 | #229 | 0.66 |
| 1981 | 1,175 | #223 | 0.70 |
| 1980 | 1,317 | #199 | 0.79 |
| 1979 | 1,365 | #197 | 0.85 |
| 1978 | 1,330 | #195 | 0.87 |
| 1977 | 1,371 | #196 | 0.89 |
| 1976 | 1,215 | #199 | 0.83 |
| 1975 | 1,198 | #206 | 0.82 |
| 1974 | 1,198 | #211 | 0.82 |
| 1973 | 1,124 | #224 | 0.77 |
| 1972 | 1,122 | #242 | 0.74 |
| 1971 | 1,203 | #244 | 0.72 |
| 1970 | 1,176 | #262 | 0.67 |
| 1969 | 1,245 | #239 | 0.74 |
| 1968 | 1,282 | #230 | 0.78 |
| 1967 | 1,528 | #204 | 0.93 |
| 1966 | 1,707 | #192 | 1.0 |
| 1965 | 1,664 | #198 | 0.94 |
| 1964 | 1,897 | #192 | 1.0 |
| 1963 | 2,093 | #182 | 1.1 |
| 1962 | 2,026 | #185 | 1.0 |
| 1961 | 2,272 | #172 | 1.1 |
| 1960 | 2,755 | #153 | 1.4 |
| 1959 | 1,953 | #185 | 1.0 |
| 1958 | 1,743 | #194 | 0.87 |
| 1957 | 1,989 | #182 | 1.0 |
| 1956 | 2,389 | #155 | 1.2 |
| 1955 | 1,801 | #186 | 0.92 |
| 1954 | 1,546 | #199 | 0.80 |
| 1953 | 1,296 | #222 | 0.69 |
| 1952 | 1,131 | #232 | 0.61 |
| 1951 | 887 | #260 | 0.49 |
| 1950 | 791 | #273 | 0.46 |
| 1949 | 740 | #282 | 0.43 |
| 1948 | 739 | #281 | 0.44 |
| 1947 | 759 | #279 | 0.43 |
| 1946 | 538 | #322 | 0.34 |
| 1945 | 307 | #405 | 0.23 |
| 1944 | 200 | #512 | 0.15 |
| 1943 | 195 | #538 | 0.14 |
| 1942 | 202 | #523 | 0.15 |
| 1941 | 51 | #1,027 | 0.04 |
| 1940 | 26 | #1,540 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 22 | #1,667 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 29 | #1,403 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 18 | #1,894 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 18 | #1,852 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 15 | #2,178 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 16 | #2,060 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 13 | #2,363 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,774 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,911 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 17 | #2,083 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 10 | #3,070 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 9 | #3,451 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,779 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,305 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #5,528 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,499 | under 0.01 |
| 1914 | 7 | #3,076 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Melody a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Melody has been given almost only to girls: 170 boys in 103 years of records.
Girls and boys named Melody: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Melody, and how old are they?
106,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 115,084 Americans ever recorded as Melody. The median Melody alive today is 36 years old; half are between 11 and 60.
The 2020 Census counted 86,671 people named Melody (86,534 women and girls, 137 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 93,556 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 564 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 23,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 19,600 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 14,100 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 17,700 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 30,800 |
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 Melody born?
The states with the most babies named Melody are California, Texas and Florida, with 36% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 457 | #55 | 1.4× |
| Texas | 431 | #54 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 222 | #70 | 1.1× |
| New York | 185 | #72 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 110 | #88 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 98 | #84 | 0.9× |
| Virginia | 95 | #62 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 90 | #117 | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 89 | #99 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 86 | #84 | 0.6× |
Where Melody is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Melody is most over-represented in California: since 1914 it was given 1.4 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 Melody 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 133,861 babies since 1880, Melody is the most given (86% of them). In 2025 it was given to 3,095 of their 3,266 babies (95%), again the most given.
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 Melody
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 Melody and names like it
- Compare Melody and MelodieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sMelody peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Melody since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Melody: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Melody.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Melody alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with MMost given first.