Melanie

Melanie meaning

Melanie is an international and Christian girl's name of Greek origin.

Blackness, darkness; from Greek melas, "black, dark"

Melanie comes through French Mélanie and Latin Melania from Greek melania, "blackness", built on melas, "black, dark". The Liddell-Scott-Jones lexicon gives melas for dark earth, dark water and the dark night, and also for a dark-skinned person; the same root gives English melanin. The name was carried by two Roman saints, Melania the Elder and her granddaughter Melania the Younger, who gave their wealth to the poor in the fourth and fifth centuries. Name lists give it as "dark", which matches the source. For Indian parents it has the same sense as Shyama or Krishna. It is said MEL-uh-nee.

Source: Liddell, Scott & Jones, Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed.) · entry μέλας (melas) · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: LSJ, μέλας (Logeion) · Online Etymology Dictionary, Melanie

Famous namesakes

• St Melania the Younger, fifth-century Roman saint

Popularity abroad

• #142 United States, girls 2025 (down 20 from 122 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #863 England and Wales, girls 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Melanie · Melany · Melonie

Related names

Also starting with Mel-

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