first name
MELBA
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 15,851 people named Melba, 59.1% reported their origin as White, 21.9% as Hispanic or Latino and 12.4% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
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Melba peaked in 1924, when 1,003 babies got the name.
At least 34,925 babies have been given the name since 1893. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.
Melba by decade
Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1920s, when it ranked #379. The largest share of babies named Melba, 38.4%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.
Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.
Where Melba is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Melba has been most common in Arkansas (5.5×), Oklahoma (4.1×), and Louisiana (3.2×), and least common in New Jersey (0.06×).
30,975 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.
Either side of Melba
Spelled almost the same
2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Melba, most common first.
Compare
🔎 MELBA 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜⬜ 1 in 19,054 Americans Rarer than 77.3% of us Peaked in 1924 with 1,003 babies Beat that 👇 https://howrareismy.name/first/melba/