Recorded 1914–2025 · United States
Melody was most popular in 2025, when 3,095 American babies were given the name — ranking #199 that year. In 2025 it ranked #199, with 3,095 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 115,084 people named Melody.
Melody first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1914, which makes it about 111 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 103 of the 112 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 115,084 American births named Melody 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 107,317 are estimated to be alive today.
3,095 American babies were named Melody in 2025, ranking #199 that year.
Melody is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 2,698 births a year, against 1,893 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +43% over the decade.
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 Melody is a girl’s name — 99.9% of the 115,084 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 107,317 Americans named Melody are alive today — 93% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 36 years old, and half are between 11 and 60. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
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 Melody on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org