Girl · Ancient Greek
Melania
Say it: meh-LAH-nee-uh
Meaning
Greek melaina, 'black, dark'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Its French form Mélanie spread from the 17th century; Melanie peaked in English and German in the 1980s.
Its wave through time
Rising now
In the United States
- 2,824 babies given this name since 1913
- At its height in 2017, about 1 in 6,100 girls
- 190 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Melanie
| French | Mélanie |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Melania |
| Italian | Melania |
| German | Melanie |
| Polish | Melania |
| Russian | Melaniya |
Famous bearers
- Melania the Elder and Melania the Younger, 4th- and 5th-century Roman ascetics
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.