Melinda

Where Melinda comes from

Coined in the eighteenth century from names such as Melanie and Melissa + -inda.
— Wiktionary's entry for Melinda
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #449 among girls — 14 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1939
    Melinda Dillon born
    American actress
  3. 1964
    Melinda Gates born
    American philanthropist
  4. 1973
    Peak, #72
    4,144 babies named Melinda — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1986
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #147.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name originating as a coinage.
Namesakes
  • Melinda Gates · American philanthropist, born 1964
  • Melinda Dillon · American actress, 1939–2023
  • Melinda Clarke · American actress, born 1969
  • Melinda Czink · Hungarian tennis player, born 1982
  • Melinda Kinnaman · Swedish-American actress, born 1971

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.