Melville
Melville was last recorded in 1981, when 5 babies were given it; 2,283 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1981 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Melville by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Melville?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #6,924, in 1981; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
77 babies in 1918, the peak
Melville peaked in 1918, when 77 boys were given it, #730 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 5 | #6,924 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,809 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 5 | #6,443 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 6 | #5,596 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 7 | #4,753 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 12 | #2,961 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 5 | #5,390 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 9 | #3,437 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 11 | #2,801 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,535 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 6 | #3,830 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 7 | #3,432 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 11 | #2,571 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 10 | #2,781 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 11 | #2,623 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 11 | #2,617 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 9 | #3,030 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 12 | #2,495 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 11 | #2,619 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 14 | #2,231 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 10 | #2,761 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 13 | #2,337 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 12 | #2,390 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 16 | #2,018 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 16 | #2,010 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 27 | #1,480 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 22 | #1,628 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 23 | #1,564 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 28 | #1,396 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 27 | #1,421 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 19 | #1,766 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 20 | #1,627 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 27 | #1,288 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 32 | #1,183 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,617 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 27 | #1,347 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 25 | #1,359 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 30 | #1,240 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 24 | #1,381 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 43 | #973 | 0.04 |
| 1937 | 31 | #1,203 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 24 | #1,377 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 34 | #1,139 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 29 | #1,260 | 0.03 |
| 1933 | 40 | #1,024 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 31 | #1,228 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 32 | #1,233 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 49 | #972 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 41 | #1,085 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 34 | #1,245 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 53 | #961 | 0.05 |
| 1926 | 45 | #1,047 | 0.04 |
| 1925 | 42 | #1,086 | 0.04 |
| 1924 | 66 | #845 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 58 | #902 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 71 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1921 | 56 | #945 | 0.05 |
| 1920 | 60 | #894 | 0.06 |
| 1919 | 56 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 77 | #730 | 0.08 |
| 1917 | 60 | #830 | 0.06 |
| 1916 | 64 | #767 | 0.07 |
| 1915 | 67 | #729 | 0.08 |
| 1914 | 56 | #685 | 0.09 |
| 1913 | 37 | #786 | 0.07 |
| 1912 | 44 | #632 | 0.10 |
| 1911 | 17 | #809 | 0.08 |
| 1910 | 13 | #914 | 0.07 |
| 1909 | 16 | #701 | 0.10 |
| 1908 | 9 | #998 | 0.06 |
| 1907 | 9 | #976 | 0.06 |
| 1906 | 13 | #697 | 0.10 |
| 1905 | 10 | #824 | 0.08 |
| 1904 | 12 | #711 | 0.09 |
| 1903 | 14 | #607 | 0.12 |
| 1902 | 15 | #574 | 0.12 |
| 1901 | 8 | #826 | 0.08 |
| 1900 | 10 | #884 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 11 | #645 | 0.10 |
| 1898 | 10 | #727 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 7 | #906 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 11 | #707 | 0.09 |
| 1895 | 19 | #469 | 0.16 |
| 1894 | 19 | #454 | 0.16 |
| 1893 | 10 | #688 | 0.09 |
| 1892 | 14 | #564 | 0.11 |
| 1891 | 8 | #746 | 0.08 |
| 1890 | 6 | #959 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 15 | #491 | 0.14 |
| 1888 | 11 | #633 | 0.09 |
| 1887 | 10 | #617 | 0.10 |
| 1886 | 11 | #593 | 0.10 |
| 1885 | 10 | #625 | 0.09 |
| 1884 | 11 | #592 | 0.10 |
| 1883 | 11 | #579 | 0.11 |
| 1882 | 8 | #736 | 0.07 |
| 1881 | 6 | #837 | 0.06 |
| 1880 | 17 | #436 | 0.15 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Melville a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Melville has been given almost only to boys: 14 girls in 98 years of records.
Girls and boys named Melville: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Melville, and how old are they?
An estimated 387 Americans named Melville and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (17% of everyone recorded); the median is 74 years old and half are between 62 and 81. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 730 people named Melville (19 women and girls, 711 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 519 born in the U.S. The Census count is 41% 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.
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 Melville born?
The states with the most babies named Melville are New York, California and Illinois, with 82% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 209 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| California | 52 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 49 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 18 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Massachusetts | 16 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Louisiana | 10 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 7 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 6 | not ranked | 0.0× |
| New Jersey | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Virginia | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Melville is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Melville is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 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 boys’ 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 Melville 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 Melville
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 Melville and names like it
- Compare Melville and AdolphBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sMelville peaked in 1918.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Melville since 1910.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Melville.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Melville alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.