How Many People Are Named Melisa?
An estimated 17,450 people in the United States have the first name Melisa. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 43 years old, and Melisa peaked in popularity in 1979 with 661 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Melisa as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Melisa paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
17,450
About 1 in 19,642 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.9% confidence
Average Age
43
years old
Peak Year
1979
661 births
Total Registered
19,064
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Melisa
Melisa is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 19,064 total births registered, 99.9% were female.
Melisa as a male name
Ranked #6,499 in 1977
5 male births in 1977
Peak: 1972 (5 births)
Melisa as a female name
Ranked #3,064 in 2024
53 female births in 2024
Peak: 1979 (661 births)
Melisa: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Melisa span from the 1940s to the 2020s, covering 9 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1970s, when 5,900 babies were registered. Melisa has declined significantly from its peak in the 1970s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Melisa by Decade
How has Melisa tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Melisa by State
Birth registrations for Melisa span all 46 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, New York. The lowest are in Wyoming, North Dakota, District of Columbia. On average, about 346 Melisas were registered per state.
Melisa + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Melisa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Melisa
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
Melisa: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Melisa?
We estimate approximately 17,450 people named Melisa are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 19,642 Americans share this first name.
Is Melisa a common name?
Melisa is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.4% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 19,064 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Melisa most popular?
Melisa reached peak popularity in 1979, when 661 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Melisa is approximately 43 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Melisa a female name?
Melisa is predominantly female. 99.9% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Melisa Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Melisa Smith, Melisa Johnson, Melisa Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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