Recorded 1893–2025 · United States
Melba was most popular in 1924, when 1,003 American babies were given the name — ranking #363 that year. In 2025 it ranked #20,040, with 7 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 34,925 people named Melba.
Melba first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1893, which makes it about 132 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 121 of the 133 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 34,925 American births named Melba between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 11,164 are estimated to be alive today.
7 American babies were named Melba in 2025, ranking #20,040 that year.
Melba is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 9 births a year across 2021–2025 against 5 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Melba is a girl’s name — 99.9% of the 34,925 Americans given it were girls and 0.1% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 100% girls and 0% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 11,164 Americans named Melba are alive today — 32% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 76 years old, and half are between 67 and 85.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Melba on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org