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Melissa

muh-LISS-uh /məˈlɪsə/

At a glance

In short
Melissa is a Greek girl's name meaning honey bee.
U.S. rank 2025
#419 of girl names
Babies in 2025
747 (0.042% of girls)
Trend
Slipping #349 in 2020 #419 in 2025
Peak
#2 in 1977–1979
First recorded
1880

Meaning of Melissa

Melissa comes from the Greek word for honey bee, which is related to meli, meaning honey. In Greek mythology, Melissa was a nymph said to have fed the infant Zeus with honey. The name also appears in Ariosto's Renaissance epic Orlando Furioso, where Melissa is a kindly sorceress. The herb lemon balm belongs to the plant genus Melissa.

Well-known bearers include the actress and comedian Melissa McCarthy and the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge.

In the United States, Melissa climbed from 240th in 1950 into the top 10 by 1967. It peaked at No. 2 in 1977, 1978 and 1979, and 34,050 babies were given the name in 1979 alone. It has declined since then and ranked 419th in 2025, with 747 babies.

How to pronounce Melissa

English

Popularity of Melissa in the U.S.

Melissa was the #419 girl name in the U.S. in 2025, with 747 babies. It peaked at #2 in 1977–1979 and has been in the top 1,000 since 1935.

Bar and line chart: Melissa in the U.S., 1880–2025. Bars: girls given the name each year, most 34,050 in 1979 and 747 in 2025. Line: rank among girl names, peak #2 in 1977–1979, #419 in 2025.
  • Girls named Melissa (left scale)
  • Rank among U.S. girl names (right scale, #1 at the top)
By year, 1880–2025. Source: SSA. Download: PNG · SVG
Year-by-year table, 1880⁠–⁠2025 146 rows
YearBabiesRankvs previous year
2025747419▼ 40
2024826379▲ 32
2023744411▼ 32
2022823379▼ 7
2021836372▼ 23
2020887349▼ 9
2019933340▼ 41
20181,117299▼ 25
20171,170274▼ 14
20161,236260▼ 7
20151,283253▼ 29
20141,509224▼ 22
20131,592202▼ 24
20121,772178▲ 6
20111,709184▼ 28
20101,951156▼ 19
20092,338137▼ 3
20082,517134▲ 3
20072,505137▼ 20
20062,893117▼ 13
20053,085104▼ 6
20043,33998▼ 2
20033,50296▼ 16
20023,76980▼ 6
20014,14574▼ 3
20004,53271▼ 7
19994,83064▼ 5
19985,35459▼ 15
19976,67944▼ 2
19967,17042▼ 7
19957,87935▼ 4
19948,79531▼ 1
199310,22530▼ 6
199211,71024▼ 4
199113,34820–
199014,00020▼ 1
198915,20319▼ 3
198816,54616▼ 3
198717,67413▼ 1
198617,66712▼ 1
198519,96311▼ 3
198421,8968▼ 2
198323,4756▼ 1
198225,8645–
198128,0055▼ 1
198031,6294▼ 2
197934,0502–
197828,3272–
197726,8792▲ 1
197625,0943▲ 1
197524,1684▲ 3
197422,1667▼ 1
197322,4796▲ 1
197222,4947–
197123,8757–
197023,7357▼ 2
196923,0185–
196821,7335▲ 4
196718,3779▲ 13
196614,25422▲ 16
196510,56338▲ 15
19648,31853▲ 8
19637,32161▲ 7
19626,30668▲ 27
19614,90095▲ 14
19604,412109▲ 18
19593,627127▲ 3
19583,323130▲ 17
19572,780147▲ 3
19562,527150▼ 1
19552,416149▲ 21
19542,062170▼ 7
19532,007163▲ 38
19521,442201▲ 28
19511,129229▲ 11
1950980240▲ 36
1949778276▲ 41
1948600317▲ 143
1947319460▲ 106
1946198566▼ 34
1945186532▲ 10
1944177542▲ 3
1943189545▲ 54
1942154599▼ 7
1941141592▲ 122
194095714▼ 86
1939116628▲ 121
193885749▼ 32
193790717▲ 192
193656909▼ 43
193563866▲ 196
1934431,062▼ 105
193351957▼ 66
193262891▲ 183
1931431,074▼ 103
193057971▲ 166
1929421,137▲ 26
1928431,163▼ 2
1927441,161▼ 46
1926461,115▼ 107
1925551,008▲ 61
1924531,069▲ 7
1923501,076▼ 188
192268888▲ 26
192166914▲ 35
192059949▲ 77
1919491,026▼ 126
191863900▲ 45
191754945▼ 97
191664848▼ 46
191567802–
191452802▼ 35
191347767▲ 3
191242770▲ 7
191131777▼ 167
191047610▲ 81
190933691▲ 51
190827742▼ 141
190738601▲ 175
190622776▼ 134
190530642▲ 68
190424710▼ 161
190335549▼ 47
190240502▲ 18
190134520▲ 11
190040531▼ 107
189947424▲ 103
189835527▼ 36
189735491▲ 62
189630553▼ 113
189541440▼ 50
189452390▼ 20
189353370▲ 95
189234465▲ 6
189130471▼ 87
189042384▼ 31
188946353▲ 27
188840380▼ 13
188734367▼ 93
188658274▲ 22
188545296▼ 19
188448277▼ 3
188342274▼ 3
188241271▼ 20
188140251▲ 20
188033271–

Melissa by state

Melissa ranks #183 in Massachusetts (2025).

Map: Melissa's 2025 rank among girl names in each U.S. state
Rank among girl names by state, 2025. Source: SSA. Download: PNG · SVG
Rank by state 32 states
StateRankBabies
Massachusetts18330
California207160
Nevada21412
Connecticut29810
Washington31323
Arizona31722
Oregon32011
Florida35851
Texas37791
Wisconsin39113
South Carolina40312
Illinois41725
Georgia45225
Colorado45612
Minnesota45911
New York48135
Utah4908
Iowa4926
Kentucky4988
North Carolina51021
Pennsylvania51520
Alabama5209
Ohio53119
Tennessee53214
New Jersey53514
Indiana54212
Oklahoma5467
Arkansas5555
Maryland6008
Michigan69011
Virginia70410
Missouri7287

Notable people named Melissa

  • Melissa Etheridge is an American singer songwriter and guitarist whose 1988 debut sparked multiple Grammy nominations and led to her first Grammy win in 1992.
  • Melissa Fumero is an American actress and television director best known for playing Amy Santiago on Brooklyn Nine Nine, later starring in MODOK, Blockbuster, and Digman, and is married to David Fumero with two sons.
  • Melissa McCarthy is an acclaimed American actress, comedian, writer, and producer with two Emmys, Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, a Time 100 honor, frequent highest paid rankings, and a number 22 spot on The New York Times list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.
  • Melissa Benoist is an American actress and singer who broke out on Glee and is best known for playing the title role in Supergirl.
  • Melissa Joan Hart is an American actress, director, and producer best known for starring in Clarissa Explains It All, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Melissa and Joey, and films like Drive Me Crazy and God's Not Dead 2.
More people named Melissa 10 more
  • Melissa Gilbert is an American actress best known as Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie who began as a child star and later worked mainly in TV films, also competing on Dancing with the Stars in 2012.
  • Melissa Perrine is an Australian B2 visually impaired para alpine skier who competed at four Winter Paralympics from 2010 to 2022, winning three gold, one silver, and one bronze at the 2015 world championships and two bronze medals at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
  • Melissa Ivy Rauch is an American actress best known for playing Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory and for starring in and executive producing three seasons of the Night Court revival.
  • Melissa Villaseñor is an American comedian, actress, musician and illustrator who was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2016 to 2022.
  • Melissa Harris-Perry is an American writer, professor, and television political commentator focused on African American politics who hosted an MSNBC weekend show from 2012 to February 2016.
  • Melissa Rivers is an American television host and actress, and the only child of comedian Joan Rivers and producer Edgar Rosenberg.
  • Melissa Ann Gorga is an American TV personality who joined The Real Housewives of New Jersey in 2011.
  • Melissa Sue Anderson is an American and Canadian actress best known for playing Mary Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie and for earning a Primetime Emmy nomination.
  • Melissa Claire Egan is an American soap actress best known for playing Annie Lavery on All My Children and Chelsea Lawson on The Young and the Restless.
  • Melissa Candida Doi was an American senior manager at IQ Financial Systems who died in the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center.