Girls' name · peaked in 1973

Melinda name popularity since 1925

135,429 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Melinda. Half of them were born in 1970 or earlier, so the typical Melinda is about 56 years old in 2026. Melinda peaked in 1973 as the #72 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 135,429; Named Melinda, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1973; #72 for girls that year
Typical age: About 56; Median birth year 1970
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #1,985 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.8% girls; 135,092 girls · 337 boys
Most popular in: Indiana; 1.55× its national share

Peak year is the year Melinda made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Melinda births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year by count was 1970. Measured as a share of all babies, Melinda peaked in 1973.

Fastest rise: Between 1938 and 1943, Melinda became 3.7× more common, from 1 in 10,200 baby girls to 1 in 2,740.
Steepest fall: Between 1993 and 1998, its share of baby girls fell by 57%, from 1 in 1,850 to 1 in 4,270.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Melinda's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Melinda.

Decade by decade

Babies named Melinda in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	94	0	–
1930s	567	0	#1,131
1940s	5,423	0	#374
1950s	21,509	22	#150
1960s	36,297	82	#100
1970s	36,438	139	#91
1980s	22,212	89	#138
1990s	7,926	5	#409
2000s	2,495	0	#1,101
2010s	1,571	0	#1,365
2020–25	560	0	#1,985

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

43.2% of babies named Melinda from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen X years (1965–1980). The full split by generation:

Where Melinda is most popular

The index compares Melinda's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Melinda.

State	Index	Babies
Indiana	1.55×	4,911
West Virginia	1.52×	1,791
Kentucky	1.43×	3,193
Kansas	1.40×	1,904
Ohio	1.38×	8,500

Other spellings

Spellings that sound like Melinda and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.

Spelling	Girls	Peak year
Melinda (this page)	135,092	1973
Melynda	2,723	1973

Names with a similar story

Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Melinda's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Melinda.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Melinda (1973).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data