How to say it
MEL · a · nie
/ˈmɛl.ə.ni/
Feminine
Melanie
Black, dark
What it means
Greek melania (from melas 'black, dark'). The same root as 'melanin' and 'melancholy.' Saint Melania the Younger was a 4th-century Roman noblewoman who gave away vast wealth and is the historical anchor.
Melanie comes from the Greek melania (from melas, 'black, dark') — the same root as 'melanin' and 'melancholy.' Saint Melania the Younger (c. 383-439), a Roman noblewoman of senatorial rank who renounced her vast wealth, gave the name its Christian-tradition anchor; her grandmother Melania the Elder was also a saint. Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1936) features Melanie Hamilton, Scarlett O'Hara's gentle sister-in-law (Olivia de Havilland in the 1939 film). Melanie Martinez and Mel B (Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls) cover modern English-language anchors. It's been in the US top 200 since 1965. Common short: Mel.
Popularity over time
peaked at #42 in 1972, currently #142 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Pop culture
Melanie Hamilton (Gone with the Wind, 1939) is the deeper anchor; Mel B from the Spice Girls and Melanie Martinez are the modern ones. The First Lady's Melania (different spelling) is its own thing.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Saint Melania the Younger Roman noblewoman who gave away vast wealth, 4th-5th centuries
- Melanie Hamilton Olivia de Havilland's character in Gone with the Wind, 1939
Spelling variants
- Melania
- Mélanie
Names with the same feeling
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