Melinda
2025 SSA
About Melinda
In the eighteenth century there was a poetic fad for names with the 'inda' sound, and, along with Belinda, Clarinda, Dorinda and Florinda, Melinda was one of those created at that time. It came into non-literary use in the 1840's, peaking in the U.S. in the late 1960s and 1970s: Melinda was a Top 100 name from 1967 to 1980. It began to fade as nickname Mindy ascended. Nowadays, however, Melinda feels more contemporary than cousins Melissa, Mindy, Belinda and Linda.
Melinda is a name fashioned from two common elements in girls' names. Mel means honey or honeybee, or alternatively dark, and is found as an element in such names as Melissa and Pamela. Linda means beautiful.
Melinda was the name of the lead character played by Jennifer Love Hewitt in Ghost Whisperer; her most prominent modern bearer is philanthropist Melinda Gates. If you don't like the nickname Mindy, you could go with Mel, Lin, or Lindy.
Pronounced muh-LIN-duh.
As of October 2026, Melinda ranked #1985 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #72 in 1973, Nameberry popularity #674.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #1,397 | 165 | 92.4 |
| 2015 | #1,364 | 174 | 97.5 |
| 2016 | #1,597 | 139 | 78.4 |
| 2017 | #1,651 | 131 | 75.9 |
| 2018 | #1,722 | 120 | 70.5 |
| 2019 | #1,984 | 98 | 58.4 |
| 2020 | #1,856 | 105 | 65 |
| 2021 | #2,064 | 93 | 56.7 |
| 2022 | #2,264 | 83 | 50.6 |
| 2023 | #2,115 | 91 | 56.7 |
| 2024 | #2,104 | 91 | 56.2 |
| 2025 | #1,985 | 97 | 60.4 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Melinda.
- Regina
- Anita
- Teresa
- Erica
- Carla
- Tanya
- Tamara
- Paulina
- Kirsty
- Dana
- Candice
- Anelise
- Aimee
- Candace
- Denise
- Sheila
- Dominique
- Felicia
- Katrina
- Justine
Melinda on lists
Famous Melindas
- Melinda Leanna Shankar
Canadian actress
- Melinda Ann French Gates
American philanthropist, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates
- Melinda Patrice "Mindy" Clarke
American actress
- Melinda Rose Dillon
American actress
- Melinda Rosalie Kinnaman
Swedish actress
- Melinda Czink
Hungarian tennis player
- Melinda Gebbie
American comics artist
- Melinda Hill
American comedienne/actress
- Melinda Schwegmann
American politician, 49th lieutenant governor of Louisiana
- MelindaJ "Mindy" Barbieri
Australian soccer player
- (Melinda) Wrenn Schmidt
American actress
Melinda in pop culture
- Melinda Gordon
character on TV's "Ghost Whisperer"
- Dr. Melinda Warner
character on TV's "Law & Order"
- Melinda Sordino
main character in "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Melinda Warren
character on TV's "Charmed"
- Melinda Halliwell
Piper and Leo's daughter on TV's "Charmed"
- Melinda Mickens
character on TV's "True Blood"
- Melinda Finster
Chuckie's deceased mother on animated series "Rugrats"
- Melinda May
a character on TV's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D"
- Melinda "Mel" Monroe
character on TV's "Virgin River"