Melvin
Melvin was given to 243 boys in 2025, #959 among boys’ names; 247,075 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 104,000 Americans named Melvin and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (42% of everyone recorded); the median is 64 years old and half are between 45 and 75.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Melvin by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Melvin mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Melvin is “a male given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “bad” (mala) and “settlement” (ville).
Variant of the Scottish surname Melville, from a place name Malleville in Normandy, from Latin mala (“bad”) + Old French ville (“settlement”).
Used to Anglicize Mac Gille Beathain in Scotland and Ó Maoil Mhín in Ireland.
/ˈmɛlvɪn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Melvin?
#959 among boys’ names, 2025
Melvin fell from #690 in 2015 to #959 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.19 to 0.14 per 1,000.
4,311 babies in 1928, the peak
Melvin peaked in 1928, when 4,311 babies were given it (4,249 boys, #48 among boys’ names). The 243 births of 2025 are 6% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 243 | #959 | 0.14 |
| 2024 | 277 | #872 | 0.16 |
| 2023 | 299 | #822 | 0.17 |
| 2022 | 300 | #829 | 0.17 |
| 2021 | 307 | #799 | 0.18 |
| 2020 | 323 | #752 | 0.19 |
| 2019 | 314 | #758 | 0.18 |
| 2018 | 334 | #719 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 328 | #731 | 0.18 |
| 2016 | 337 | #727 | 0.18 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 365 | #690 | 0.19 |
| 2014 | 386 | #665 | 0.20 |
| 2013 | 402 | #618 | 0.21 |
| 2012 | 393 | #618 | 0.21 |
| 2011 | 390 | #614 | 0.21 |
| 2010 | 456 | #556 | 0.24 |
| 2009 | 535 | #506 | 0.27 |
| 2008 | 592 | #467 | 0.29 |
| 2007 | 633 | #443 | 0.30 |
| 2006 | 673 | #423 | 0.33 |
| 2005 | 627 | #424 | 0.31 |
| 2004 | 613 | #428 | 0.31 |
| 2003 | 656 | #397 | 0.33 |
| 2002 | 908 | #315 | 0.47 |
| 2001 | 534 | #453 | 0.27 |
| 2000 | 525 | #455 | 0.27 |
| 1999 | 555 | #425 | 0.29 |
| 1998 | 577 | #414 | 0.30 |
| 1997 | 590 | #399 | 0.31 |
| 1996 | 598 | #396 | 0.32 |
| 1995 | 657 | #365 | 0.35 |
| 1994 | 699 | #351 | 0.36 |
| 1993 | 729 | #341 | 0.37 |
| 1992 | 784 | #325 | 0.39 |
| 1991 | 853 | #300 | 0.42 |
| 1990 | 941 | #277 | 0.46 |
| 1989 | 900 | #276 | 0.45 |
| 1988 | 892 | #263 | 0.47 |
| 1987 | 824 | #264 | 0.44 |
| 1986 | 862 | #258 | 0.47 |
| 1985 | 907 | #249 | 0.49 |
| 1984 | 908 | #241 | 0.50 |
| 1983 | 948 | #236 | 0.53 |
| 1982 | 1,035 | #226 | 0.57 |
| 1981 | 1,052 | #227 | 0.59 |
| 1980 | 1,103 | #218 | 0.62 |
| 1979 | 1,158 | #204 | 0.67 |
| 1978 | 1,162 | #197 | 0.71 |
| 1977 | 1,144 | #200 | 0.70 |
| 1976 | 1,165 | #190 | 0.74 |
| 1975 | 1,208 | #187 | 0.77 |
| 1974 | 1,197 | #190 | 0.76 |
| 1973 | 1,380 | #170 | 0.89 |
| 1972 | 1,456 | #171 | 0.90 |
| 1971 | 1,578 | #172 | 0.89 |
| 1970 | 1,678 | #171 | 0.90 |
| 1969 | 1,770 | #162 | 1.0 |
| 1968 | 1,798 | #150 | 1.0 |
| 1967 | 1,844 | #150 | 1.1 |
| 1966 | 2,044 | #142 | 1.1 |
| 1965 | 2,230 | #138 | 1.2 |
| 1964 | 2,432 | #134 | 1.2 |
| 1963 | 2,545 | #133 | 1.3 |
| 1962 | 2,577 | #137 | 1.2 |
| 1961 | 2,842 | #128 | 1.3 |
| 1960 | 3,011 | #125 | 1.4 |
| 1959 | 3,170 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 1958 | 3,149 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 1957 | 3,397 | #113 | 1.6 |
| 1956 | 3,638 | #101 | 1.7 |
| 1955 | 3,646 | #95 | 1.8 |
| 1954 | 3,711 | #92 | 1.8 |
| 1953 | 3,811 | #91 | 1.9 |
| 1952 | 3,920 | #91 | 2.0 |
| 1951 | 3,837 | #88 | 2.0 |
| 1950 | 3,886 | #87 | 2.2 |
| 1949 | 3,972 | #82 | 2.2 |
| 1948 | 4,057 | #81 | 2.3 |
| 1947 | 4,169 | #85 | 2.3 |
| 1946 | 3,742 | #86 | 2.3 |
| 1945 | 3,408 | #78 | 2.5 |
| 1944 | 3,745 | #67 | 2.7 |
| 1943 | 4,069 | #63 | 2.9 |
| 1942 | 4,188 | #60 | 3.0 |
| 1941 | 3,951 | #56 | 3.2 |
| 1940 | 3,935 | #53 | 3.4 |
| 1939 | 3,853 | #51 | 3.5 |
| 1938 | 3,818 | #54 | 3.4 |
| 1937 | 3,890 | #50 | 3.6 |
| 1936 | 3,730 | #53 | 3.6 |
| 1935 | 3,600 | #57 | 3.5 |
| 1934 | 3,702 | #55 | 3.6 |
| 1933 | 3,588 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1932 | 3,776 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1931 | 3,700 | #51 | 3.6 |
| 1930 | 4,048 | #50 | 3.7 |
| 1929 | 4,100 | #49 | 3.8 |
| 1928 | 4,249 | #48 | 3.8 |
| 1927 | 4,202 | #48 | 3.7 |
| 1926 | 4,194 | #47 | 3.8 |
| 1925 | 4,146 | #50 | 3.7 |
| 1924 | 4,168 | #48 | 3.7 |
| 1923 | 4,012 | #48 | 3.7 |
| 1922 | 3,908 | #50 | 3.6 |
| 1921 | 3,887 | #53 | 3.5 |
| 1920 | 3,717 | #54 | 3.5 |
| 1919 | 3,384 | #56 | 3.5 |
| 1918 | 3,469 | #56 | 3.4 |
| 1917 | 3,155 | #57 | 3.4 |
| 1916 | 2,984 | #57 | 3.4 |
| 1915 | 2,780 | #60 | 3.3 |
| 1914 | 2,064 | #59 | 3.2 |
| 1913 | 1,642 | #61 | 3.2 |
| 1912 | 1,185 | #71 | 2.8 |
| 1911 | 594 | #73 | 2.6 |
| 1910 | 482 | #75 | 2.5 |
| 1909 | 448 | #71 | 2.7 |
| 1908 | 366 | #75 | 2.4 |
| 1907 | 331 | #78 | 2.3 |
| 1906 | 285 | #83 | 2.1 |
| 1905 | 291 | #83 | 2.2 |
| 1904 | 234 | #92 | 1.8 |
| 1903 | 230 | #88 | 1.9 |
| 1902 | 248 | #87 | 2.0 |
| 1901 | 176 | #97 | 1.7 |
| 1900 | 231 | #102 | 1.5 |
| 1899 | 166 | #106 | 1.6 |
| 1898 | 159 | #115 | 1.3 |
| 1897 | 128 | #129 | 1.1 |
| 1896 | 158 | #115 | 1.3 |
| 1895 | 158 | #111 | 1.3 |
| 1894 | 125 | #129 | 1.1 |
| 1893 | 111 | #137 | 1.0 |
| 1892 | 114 | #144 | 0.93 |
| 1891 | 108 | #127 | 1.1 |
| 1890 | 98 | #146 | 0.88 |
| 1889 | 97 | #150 | 0.88 |
| 1888 | 119 | #131 | 1.0 |
| 1887 | 95 | #135 | 0.94 |
| 1886 | 83 | #169 | 0.75 |
| 1885 | 110 | #125 | 1.0 |
| 1884 | 95 | #145 | 0.83 |
| 1883 | 96 | #130 | 0.92 |
| 1882 | 86 | #160 | 0.76 |
| 1881 | 76 | #159 | 0.75 |
| 1880 | 103 | #129 | 0.93 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Melvin a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Melvin has been given almost only to boys: 2,139 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Melvin: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Melvin, and how old are they?
104,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 42% of the 247,075 Americans ever recorded as Melvin. The median Melvin alive today is 64 years old; half are between 45 and 75.
The 2020 Census counted 111,421 people named Melvin (479 women and girls, 110,942 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 121,119 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 13,500 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 42,800 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 21,200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 13,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 9,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,180 |
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 Melvin born?
The states with the most babies named Melvin are Texas, New York and Pennsylvania, with 17% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 14,461 | #1,281 | 1.0× |
| New York | 14,010 | #828 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 12,891 | #367 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 12,723 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| California | 11,609 | #1,142 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 10,489 | #780 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 9,224 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Virginia | 8,987 | #712 | 1.6× |
| Georgia | 8,811 | #1,315 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 8,794 | #754 | 0.9× |
Where Melvin is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Melvin is most over-represented in Maryland: since 1910 it was given 1.8 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 Melvin 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 252,016 babies since 1880, Melvin is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 243 of their 243 babies (100%), 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 Melvin
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 Melvin and names like it
- Compare Melvin and MelvynBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sMelvin peaked in 1928.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Melvin since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Melvin: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1928The year the most babies were named Melvin.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Melvin alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.