Girls' name · peaked in 1973
Melisa name popularity since 1925
19,121 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Melisa. Half of them were born in 1979 or earlier, so the typical Melisa is about 47 years old in 2026. Melisa peaked in 1973 as the #342 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 19,121
- Named Melisa, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #2,950 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.9% girls
- 19,111 girls · 10 boys
- Most popular in
- California
- 1.59× its national share
Peak year is the year Melisa 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.
Melisa births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year by count was 1979. Measured as a share of all babies, Melisa peaked in 1973.
- Fastest rise: Between 1960 and 1965, Melisa became 3× more common, from 1 in 14,400 baby girls to 1 in 4,750.
- Steepest fall: Between 2004 and 2009, its share of baby girls fell by 47%, from 1 in 7,260 to 1 in 13,700.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Melisa's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Melisa.
Decade by decade
Babies named Melisa 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 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1930s | 0 | 0 | Under 5 |
| 1940s | 10 | 0 | Under 5 |
| 1950s | 473 | 0 | #1,763 |
| 1960s | 3,396 | 0 | #495 |
| 1970s | 5,890 | 10 | #379 |
| 1980s | 3,885 | 0 | #526 |
| 1990s | 2,276 | 0 | #958 |
| 2000s | 1,937 | 0 | #1,215 |
| 2010s | 932 | 0 | #2,609 |
| 2020–25 | 312 | 0 | #2,950 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000. "Under 5" means fewer than 5 girls got the name.
Generation fingerprint
46.1% of babies named Melisa from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen X years (1965–1980). The full split by generation:
Where Melisa is most popular
The index compares Melisa'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 Melisa.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| California | 1.59× | 2,716 |
| Texas | 1.49× | 1,888 |
| Florida | 1.47× | 855 |
| Georgia | 1.32× | 586 |
| Alabama | 1.13× | 323 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Melisa 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Melisa (this page) | 19,111 | 1973 |
| Melissa | 758,167 | 1979 |
| Mellissa | 5,625 | 1979 |
| Mellisa | 4,575 | 1979 |
| Meliza | 1,054 | 1997 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Melisa's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Melisa.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Melisa (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