Melinda
- Pronunciation
- [Me-lin-da]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Blend Of Melissa And Linda.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Melinda
Melinda is a modern English blend, constructed from Melissa — derived from the Greek word for honeybee — and Linda, which itself draws on the Spanish and Germanic roots associated with beauty and the linden tree. Because Melinda is a coined combination rather than an ancient name with an independent etymology, it carries the essence of both parent names without belonging to either tradition exclusively. This kind of deliberate blending was a creative naming practice that flourished in the twentieth century, producing names that felt familiar yet fresh.
Melinda first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 1965 and climbed to its peak of #72 in 1973, a period when the name benefited from the mid-century popularity of both Melissa and Linda. It remained in the top-1000 through 2002, its final tracked year at rank #927, with a total of more than 55,000 top-1000 births over its nearly four-decade span. It has not re-entered the SSA top-1000 in the records tracked here beyond 2002.
Melinda has a pleasing three-syllable flow and a softness that distinguishes it from its blunter short forms. Recorded variants and related forms include Linda, Lindy, Mally, and Mandy — a wide family of nicknames that reflects the name's compound origins and its natural tendency to invite informal shortenings. For parents who like Melissa or Linda but want something slightly less expected, Melinda offers a graceful midpoint.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Melinda
US Popularity History (1965–2002)
Annual US births named Melinda by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1970 with 4,225 girls named Melinda (girl rank #93 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2002, ranked #927 for girls (242 US births). That's 834 places below its 1970 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Variant Forms
Looking for names like Melinda?
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Compare Melinda to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Melinda against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).