Melvin
Melvin is ranked 872nd among boys in 2024 (275 births). Its best rank was 47th, in 1926.
- Rank in 2024
- #872down 50 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 2750.02% of boys
- Peak year
- 19284,249 births
- Best rank
- #47in 1926
- Since 1880
- 246,815people given the name
The story in the numbers
244,676 boys have been named Melvin in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1928, with 4,249 births — 0.38% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 275 births in 2024, against 4,249 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1944, and the 1920s alone account for 17%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 55 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 2,139 girls have also been given it, 0.87% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Melvin | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 960 | |
| 1890s | 1,325 | |
| 1900s | 2,840 | |
| 1910s | 21,739 | |
| 1920s | 40,583 | |
| 1930s | 37,705 | |
| 1940s | 39,236 | |
| 1950s | 36,165 | |
| 1960s | 23,090 | |
| 1970s | 13,127 | |
| 1980s | 9,432 | |
| 1990s | 6,981 | |
| 2000s | 6,290 | |
| 2010s | 3,702 | |
| 2020s | 1,501 |
In 1928, its biggest year
Melvin was the 48th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1928 were Robert, John, James, William and Charles. See all of 1928.
Names that rose and fell with Melvin
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Gordonpeak 1952
- Lylepeak 1922
- Normanpeak 1928
- Marvinpeak 1928
- Arnoldpeak 1924
- Rolandpeak 1924
- Vernonpeak 1920
- Delbertpeak 1932
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.