The story in the numbers

759,386 girls have been named Melissa in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1979, with 34,050 births — 2.1% of all girls recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 825 births in 2024, against 34,050 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1979, and the 1970s alone account for 33%. It has spent 135 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 44 of them in the top 100 and 18 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 2,495 boys have also been given it, 0.33% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Melissa

427

399

323

516

526

666

2,838

22,293

119,202

253,268

217,929

89,989

32,624

14,272

4,114

In 1979, its biggest year

Melissa was the 2nd most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1979 were Jennifer, Melissa, Amanda, Jessica and Amy. See all of 1979.

Names that rose and fell with Melissa

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.