Melanie
Meaning of Melanie
Melanie comes from Mélanie, the French form of the Latin name Melania, which is derived from the Greek melaina, meaning black or dark. It is pronounced MEL-uh-nee in English and MEH-lah-nee in French.
The Latin form was borne by two early Christian saints, Melania the Elder and her granddaughter Melania the Younger. In fiction, Melanie Wilkes is a central character in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind, filmed in 1939. Well-known namesakes include actress Melanie Griffith, star of Working Girl, and singer Melanie C, Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls.
The novel and film helped popularize the name in the U.S., where 13 girls were named Melanie in 1936 and 200 in 1940. It peaked at No. 42 in 1972, when 6,296 girls were given the name, and ranked 142nd in 2025, with 2,074 girls.
Pronunciation
French
- Pronunced as MEH-lah-nee (/me.la.ni/)
English
- Pronunced as MEL-uh-nee (/ˈmɛləni/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Melanie
| Melanie C is an English singer and songwriter who rose to fame as Sporty Spice in the Spice Girls, the best selling female group, and is known for her distinctive vocals. |
| Melanie Griffith is an American actress, daughter of Tippi Hedren, known for Body Double, Something Wild, and Working Girl, which earned her a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination. |
| Melanie Martinez is an American singer and songwriter from New York who rose to fame on The Voice in 2012, then signed to Atlantic Records and released her debut single Dollhouse and an EP of the same name in 2014. |
| Melanie Jennings Oudin is an American former tennis player who reached world junior No. 2, played Fed Cup for the United States from 2009 to 2011, and won the 2011 US Open mixed doubles with Jack Sock. |
| Melanie Klein was an Austrian and British psychoanalyst who pioneered child analysis and object relations theory, arguing that infant anxiety drives unconscious good and bad splitting whose resolution, shaped by temperament and care, influences later mental health. |
| Melanie Fiona is a Canadian R and B singer from Toronto who debuted with X-Quisite, earned a Juno nod, and later teamed with Drake. |
| Melanie Perkins is an Australian tech entrepreneur, cofounder and CEO of Canva, who previously cofounded Fusion Books. |
| Melanie Ann Amaro is an American singer who won The X Factor USA in 2011 as its youngest champion, earning a five million recording contract with Syco Music and Epic Records. |
| Melanie Ann Stansbury is an American politician and former ecology instructor serving as the Democratic US representative for New Mexico District 1 since 2021, after serving in the state House for District 28 from 2019 to 2021. |
| Melanie Rae Thon is an American fiction writer known for genre defying work that explores diversity and interdependence from human and more than human perspectives. |
| Melanie Maher - Melanie Figueroa Solis is a Puerto Rican singer, actress, and model who competed on Objetivo Fama and starred in the San Juan revival of Grease, also appearing in the Spanish premiere of Hairspray. |
| Melanie Benjamin is the pen name of American author Melanie Hauser. |
