Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Melanie?
Births per year, rank history and how many Melanies are alive today.
Melanie (female), once a common girls' name, is now an uncommon choice for new babies in England and Wales, ranked 863rd in 2025 with 41 given the name. The name peaked in 1974, when around 1,000 babies were given the name, the 32nd most popular that year. It has declined since 1974; the 2025 figure is roughly 4% of its peak. Numbers have been stable in recent years. At least 22,000 babies have been named Melanie in England and Wales since 1964. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
The Melanie you are most likely to meet is around 52 years old. Half of all Melanies born in England and Wales are between 43 and 59, and there are at least 26,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly a 7.9% chance that at least one of them will be called Melanie.
How many babies are named Melanie each year?
Where does Melanie rank among girls' names?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Melanie most popular?
Melanie peaked in 1974, when around 1,000 babies in England and Wales were given the name.
How many people are called Melanie?
At least 26,000 people named Melanie born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Melanie?
Most living Melanies are between 43 and 59; the most common age is about 52.
Is Melanie becoming more or less popular?
Well past its peak: today's figures are a fraction of the 1974 peak, though numbers have levelled off in recent years.