# Melba (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/melba/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmɛlbə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 34,925 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 52 / 34,873 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

Coined by Nellie Melba as a pseudonym; derived from Melbourne.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 9 | 10,046 |
| 2000 | 17 | 6,392 |
| 2001 | 6 | 14,724 |
| 2002 | 7 | 13,155 |
| 2004 | 8 | 12,366 |
| 2008 | 6 | 16,792 |
| 2009 | 6 | 16,569 |
| 2013 | 5 | 18,361 |
| 2014 | 5 | 18,331 |
| 2016 | 10 | 10,601 |
| 2017 | 8 | 12,384 |
| 2020 | 5 | 16,703 |
| 2022 | 11 | 9,446 |
| 2024 | 8 | 11,794 |
| 2025 | 7 | 12,736 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 9 | 3,138 |
| 1924 | 5 | 4,750 |
| 1927 | 6 | 4,041 |
| 1929 | 5 | 4,353 |
| 1931 | 8 | 3,014 |
| 1933 | 5 | 3,984 |
| 1936 | 7 | 3,062 |
| 1941 | 7 | 3,043 |

## People named Melba

- Melba Moore, American singer, and actress
- Melba Liston, American jazz trombonist, musical arranger, and composer (1926–1999)
- Melba Montgomery, American musician (1938–2025)
- Melba Phillips, American physicist and science educator (1907–2004)
- Melba Hernández, Cuban politician
- Melba Roy Mouton, African-American Assistant Chief of Research Programs at NASA
- Melba Pattillo Beals, American journalist and educator

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.