Melba vs Melissa
American parents have registered 762,623 Melissas since 1880, against 34,925 Melbas. Melissa is still ahead, with 747 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Melba Melissa
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Melissa for 96 years and Melba for 50 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.
Side by side
| Melba | Melissa | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 34,925 | 762,623 |
| Most in one year | 1,003 | 34,179 |
| Babies in 2025 | 7 | 747 |
| Estimated living today | 11,000 | 718,000 |
| Median age today | 75 | 46 |
| Peak year | 1924 | 1979 |
| Best rank | 202nd girls | 2nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 11,932nd | 419th |
| First recorded | 1893 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 34,873 / 52 | 760,128 / 2,495 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Melbas alive today are over 75; half the Melissas are over 46. That is 29 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Melba Arkansas (5.5×), Oklahoma (4.1×), Louisiana (3.2×)
- Melissa Rhode Island (1.4×), New Hampshire (1.4×), Vermont (1.3×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Melba and Melissa.