ninan.org

Melvin

Boys' name · Early 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~111,600 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#958 among boys
Births in 2025
243 247,075 since 1880
Typical age
64 years, median

Melvin popularity over time

Melvin rank by birth year, 1880–2025Melvin ranked #126 in 1880 and #958 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #47, in 1926.#100#1,000#958best #47 in 192618901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 1928: 4,311 births recorded as Melvin. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. Melvin has spent 55 years inside the national top 100.

In 2025 it ranked #958 with 243 births. Over ten years the count has fallen 33%. Year on year the rank dropped by 87.

Babies named Melvin per yearPeaks at 4,311 births in 1928.4,311 in 1928018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Melvin?

An estimated 111,600 living Americans are called Melvin. That is out of 247,075 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Melvin?

Median age among living Melvins: 64. Most living bearers were born in the 1950s. By the site’s era rules that makes Melvin a early 20th-century perennial name.

Your Melvin

Ages of living people named MelvinHalf of living Melvins are older than 64 and half younger.median 64020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Melvin is most common

The name is concentrated in Pennsylvania, at 3.3× the national rate. Maryland, Wisconsin and Louisiana follow.

Where Melvin is used more than average5 states use the name Melvin more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: 1.9× the national rateWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: 3.3× the national ratePANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: 1.6× the national rateVAMaryland: 2.8× the national rateMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: 1.9× the national rateLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Melvin is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Pennsylvania 308 3.3×
Maryland 116 2.8×
Wisconsin 79 1.9×
Louisiana 67 1.9×
Virginia 105 1.6×

Melvin in England and Wales

ONS recorded 15 births named Melvin in 2025, ranking it #1,705. That is 2.1× higher than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Melvin comes from

Variant of the Scottish surname Melville, from a place name Malleville in Normandy, from Latin mala (“bad”) + Old French ville (“settlement”). Used to Anglicize Mac Gille Beathain in Scotland and Ó Maoil Mhín in Ireland.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Melvin

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Melvin Calvin American biochemist 1911–1997 69
Melvin Schwartz American experimental physicist 1932–2006 65
Melvin Laird 20th-century American politician 1922–2016 28
Melvin Twellaar Dutch rower 1996 20
Melvin Frank American screenwriter and director 1913–1988 19
Melvin Bard French association football player 2000 19
Melvin Van Peebles American filmmaker 1932–2021 17
Melvin Purvis FBI Agent 1903–1960 17
Photo credits (7)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 605 in 1911 to 1,201 in 1912 — 2.0 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Melvin

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/melvin.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).