How common is the surname Mellen?

3,076 people in the United States had the surname Mellen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 100,372 Americans. It ranked 10,453rd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Mellen?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Mellen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Mellen?

John Mellen Thurston, American politician (1847–1916), followed by Prentiss Mellen.

Where is the surname Mellen most common?

Wikidata records people named Mellen in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Is the surname Mellen getting more or less common?

More common. 2,793 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,076 in 2010, up 10%.

The surname Mellen

A surname, carried by 3,076 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex M450

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Mellen is more common than 93.6% of them.

Origin

From the Dutch surname, spelling variant of Melin.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,076 people named Mellen in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 100,372 Americans. That is up 10% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,793.

#10,453

rank among US surnames

3,076

people in 2010

1.0

per 100,000 Americans

+10.1%

change since 2000 (was #10,536)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#10,448	Hillier	3,079	100,275
#10,450	Riffe	3,078	100,307
#10,451	Edgington	3,077	100,340
#10,453	Mellen	3,076	100,372
#10,458	Hagar	3,075	100,405
#10,459	Doria	3,074	100,438

Who is named Mellen

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

95% of people named Mellen identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 1.0%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Mellens

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

John Mellen Thurston
American politician (1847–1916)
Prentiss Mellen
American judge (1764-1840)
Amanda Feilding
British activist, 1943–2025

Notable Mellens come mostly from the United States (2) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Mellen

Mellen has the Soundex code M450, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M450.

Questions

Where does the surname Mellen come from?: From the Dutch surname, spelling variant of Melin.
How common is the surname Mellen?: 3,076 people in the United States had the surname Mellen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 100,372 Americans. It ranked 10,453rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Mellen?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Mellen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Mellen?: John Mellen Thurston, American politician (1847–1916), followed by Prentiss Mellen.
Where is the surname Mellen most common?: Wikidata records people named Mellen in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Is the surname Mellen getting more or less common?: More common. 2,793 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,076 in 2010, up 10%.