How popular is the baby name Melisa in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Melisa.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Melisa


Posts that mention the name Melisa

Popular baby names in Turkey, 2022

Flag of Turkey
Flag of Turkey

The transcontinental country of Turkey shares land borders with eight other nations: two (Greece and Bulgaria) on the European side and six (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria) on the Asian side.

In 2022, Turkey welcomed 1,035,795 babies — 48.6% were girls, and 51.4% were boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Zeynep and Alparslan.

Here are Turkey’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Zeynep (has ranked either #1 or #2 for girls since 1999)
  2. Asel (entered the top 100 in 2016; entered the top 10 in 2018)
  3. Defne
  4. Zümra
  5. Elif
  6. Asya
  7. Azra
  8. Nehir
  9. Eylül
  10. Ecrin
  11. Elisa
  12. Masal
  13. Meryem
  14. Lina
  15. Ada
  16. Eslem
  17. Ebrar
  18. Ela
  19. Miray
  20. Zehra
  21. Yagmur
  22. Duru
  23. Gökçe (pronounced gok-cheh)
  24. Alya
  25. Günes (pronounced goo-NESH)
  26. Buglem
  27. Efnan (entered the top 100 in 2022)
    • The sudden trendiness of Efnan is likely due to the Turkish drama Aziz (2021-2022), which featured a character named Efnan. If this series ends up airing in the U.S. in Spanish (as other Turkish dramas have recently), we may see Efnan pop up the U.S. data soon as well.
  28. Ikra
  29. Esila
  30. Kumsal
  31. Öykü
  32. Ipek
  33. Arya
  34. Mira
  35. Sare
  36. Hiranur
  37. Nisa
  38. Melisa
  39. Ayse
  40. Aysima
  41. Umay (entered the top 100 in 2020)
  42. Melek
  43. Inci
  44. Eliz (entered the top 100 in 2021)
  45. Ahsen
  46. Yüsra
  47. Beren
  48. Erva
  49. Fatma
  50. Belinay

Boy Names

  1. Alparslan (entered the top 100 in 2016)
  2. Yusuf (has ranked either #1 or #2 for boys since 2002)
  3. Miraç
  4. Göktug
  5. Ömer Asaf
  6. Eymen
  7. Ömer
  8. Aras
  9. Mustafa
  10. Ali Asaf
  11. Kerem
  12. Ali
  13. Çinar
  14. Hamza
  15. Metehan
  16. Ahmet
  17. Poyraz
  18. Muhammed
  19. Mehmet
  20. Muhammed Ali
  21. Yigit
  22. Atlas
  23. Ayaz
  24. Mert
  25. Emir
  26. Umut
  27. Miran
  28. Alperen
  29. Kuzey
  30. Ibrahim
  31. Yunus Emre
  32. Berat
  33. Deniz
  34. Yagiz
  35. Aybars
  36. Ege
  37. Doruk
  38. Eren
  39. Hüseyin
  40. Emirhan
  41. Hasan
  42. Furkan
  43. Enes
  44. Muhammed Alparslan (entered the top 100 in 2022)
  45. Burak
  46. Kaan
  47. Efe
  48. Rüzgar
  49. Muhammed Emin
  50. Abdullah

(Turkey’s baby name data consists of top-100 lists going back to 1980. So my notes above about names entering the top 100 only covers the last 43 years.)

The girls’ top 100 included Mihra (53rd), Neva (55th), Menesa (67th), and Asel Lina (79th).

The boys’ top 100 included Barlas (74th), Uraz (76th), Alp (87th), and Kivanç (96th).

The boy name Ragnar didn’t make Turkey’s top 100, but it did make headlines in Turkey in early 2022. That January, Güven and Sibel Arslan of the province of Diyarbakir welcomed a baby boy. They had agreed to name him Rüzgar (which means “wind” in Turkish), but Güven — a fan of the TV series Vikings — decided at the last minute to register the name Ragnar instead. Luckily, Sibel wasn’t upset about the switch, but she said she’d call the baby Rüzgar regardless.

Finally, here are Turkey’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Turkey (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ukraine, 2022

Flag of Ukraine
Flag of Ukraine

The Eastern European country of Ukraine is the second-largest country on the continent, after Russia.

Several years ago, Ukraine had a population of roughly 42 million, making it Europe’s eighth most populous country. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February of 2022, however, more than 8 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries (such as Poland).

Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice recently revealed the top baby names of 2022 in the capital city of Kyiv and in five nearby regions (called “oblasts”). All six of these places are located in the central/western part of the country:

Map of Ukraine
Map of Ukraine

Rankings weren’t included, so, in the tables below, I’ve written the names in the order in which they appeared in the news release.

Kyiv (city)

Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has a population of over 2.9 million — making it the seventh most populous city in Europe. Here are Kyiv’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl NamesBoy Names
City of KyivSofiya
Polina
Viktoriya
Eva
Anna
Mariya		Mark
Oleksandr
Maksym
Matviy
Artem

The city’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Afeliya, Javelina, Vlastylyna, Ava, Elya, Danya, Mriya, Agpiya, Sonya, Lali, Lukeriya, Zlatoslava, Zemfira
  • Boys: Orion, Hraf (Graf), Kiy, Kai, Slaven, Horus, Avenir, Eleazar, Danko, Yavir, Danislav, Azariy, Veleslav
St. Javelin

Javelina and its male equivalent, Javelin, are two of the weapon-inspired names that have emerged in the wake of the Russian invasion. They come from the FGM-148 Javelin — an American-made, hand-held, anti-tank missile system. The weapon is featured in the pro-Ukrainian “St. Javelin” internet meme (above). Incidentally, a baby born in Sonoma County in 2022 was named Javelin — perhaps his family is Ukrainian?

Another weapon-inspired name being given to baby boys is Bayraktar. This one comes from the Bayraktar TB2 — a Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicle that carries laser-guided bombs. The word bayraktar means “flag-bearer” in Turkish.

Kyiv Oblast

Kyiv Oblast has a population of over 1.7 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl NamesBoy Names
Kyiv OblastAnna
Anastasiya
Veronika
Viktoriya
Eva
Mariya
Polina
Solomiya
Sofiya		Andriy
Artem
Bohdan
Vladyslav
Danylo
David
Dmytro
Matviy
Mark
Maksym
Nazar
Oleksandr
Timofey
Yaroslav

Solomiya is the Ukrainian form of Salome.

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Aurika, Bozhena, Dayana, Evangelina, Emily, Narin, Noel, Rachel, Yasmina
  • Boys: Arney, Vil’yam, Demyan, Lavr, Leon, Matt, Seraphim, Tamirlan, Teymur

Vinnytsia Oblast

Vinnytsia Oblast has a population of over 1.5 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl NamesBoy Names
Vinnytsia OblastSofiya
Anna
Anastasiya
Viktoriya
Solomiya		Artem
Dmytro
Maksym
Matviy
Mark

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Pollyanna, Afina (Athena), Kyriena, Solomiya-Sevda, Lolita, Monika
  • Boys: Sultan, Elisey, Radoslav, Moses, Nikitas

Khmelnytskyi Oblast

Khmelnytskyi Oblast has a population of over 1.27 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl NamesBoy Names
Khmelnytskyi OblastAnastasiya
Anna
Viktoriya
Veronika
Daryna
Emiliya
Eva
Zlata
Mariya
Nadiya
Oleksandra
Polina
Solomiya
Sofiya
Yaryna		Andriy
Artem
Vladyslav
David
Danylo
Ilya
Maksym
Mark
Matviy
Mykhailo
Nazar
Oleksandr
Roman
Timofey
Yaroslav

Yaryna is related to Irina (Irene).

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Alvina, Amaliya, Afina (Athena), Vanessa, Vivien, Hloriya (Gloria), Zara, Liliana, Luna, Patrina, Yunna, Ulpana
  • Boys: Dominik, Iskander, Marius, Nathaniel, Nikodim, Ryan, Seviur, Stefa, Yusuf

Zhytomyr Oblast

Zhytomyr Oblast has a population of over 1.21 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl NamesBoy Names
Zhytomyr OblastAlina, Alisa, Alisiya, Anhelina, Anna, Anastasiya, Arina, Bohdana, Valentyna, Valeriya, Varvara, Veronika, Viktoriya, Darina, Evelina, Emiliya, Eva, Elizaveta, Zlata, Karina, Kateryna, Kipa, Marharyta (Margarita), Mariya, Marta, Milana, Myroslava, Nikole, Oleksandra, Polina, Sofiya, Solomiya, Yuliya, YanaAndriy, Artem, Artur, Bohdan, Volodymyr, Vladyslav, Danyil, Danylo, Denis, Dmytro, Yehor, Zakhar, Ivan, Ilya, Kyrylo, Lev, Makar, Maksym, Mark, Maryan, Matviy, Mykhailo, Nazar, Nikita, Oleksandr, Stefan, Timofey, Timur, Yuriy, Yan, Yaroslav

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Aurora, Ahata (Agatha), Adelina, Adriana, Albina, Alvina, Aneliya, Anisiya, Bozhena, Habriella (Gabriella), Diana, Dariana, Dilara, Dominika, Elina, Elvira, Eliana, Emira, Emma, Esther, Ilona, Ilariya, Liana, Lika, Liya, Malika, Melisa, Mila, Milena, Mira, Miya, Monika, Nikoletta, Nikoloz, Oliviya, Radmira, Rosa, Roksolana, Ruf, Sabina, Sandra, Stella, Stefaniya, Teona, Ulyana
  • Boys: Avdei, Ayrton, Aleks, Amin, Amibrek, Amir, Arman, Armen, Arsen, Brian, Biloslav, Bartholomew, Veniamin, Damir, Danil, Josh, Ernest, Emmanuel, Imran, Yonatan, Lavrin, Larion, Leon, Luka, Maksymilian, Milan, Nestor, Oles, Oscar, Platon, Radion, Rinat, Reuben, Samuel, Sarmat, Seraphim, Svitozhar, Tamirlan, Farid, Khoma

Cherkasy Oblast

Cherkasy Oblast has a population of close to 1.2 million. Here are the region’s top baby names of 2022:

Girl NamesBoy Names
Cherkasy OblastAnastasiya
Anna
Alisa
Arina
Veronika
Viktoriya
Eva
Mariya
Milana
Solomiya
Sofiya
Stefaniya
Polina		Artem
Bohdan
Volodymyr
Vladyslav
Denis
Dmytro
Ivan
Maksym
Mark
Matviy
Nazar
Oleksandr
Timofey
Yaroslav

The region’s rare names included…

  • Girls: Aveliya, Aya, Hlafira (Glafira), Elmira, Emma, Zoryana, Isolde, Ilariya, Chiara, Karolina, Luna, Miropiya, Mriya, Solya, Tiana, Tsvitana, Yasmina, Yatomira
  • Boys: Ayman, Arey, Gulorom, Dar, Yesfir, Zakir, Zlatan, Ilon, Kosma, Lubomyr, Mars, Meruzh, Orest, Radomir, Sayan, Tehran, Tikhon

The name Stefaniya is on the rise thanks to the song “Stefania” by Ukrainian folk/rap group Kalush Orchestra. It won the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest by a landslide. The lyrics refer to the lead singer’s mother, but the song “has since taken on a new, more patriotic meaning.” Here’s the music video:

I suspect that Viktoriya (Victoria) — which means “victory” in Latin, and appears on all six of the lists above — bears extra significance among Ukrainians these days as well.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ukraine (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Ukraine (1991-2014) location map by NordNordWest under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Popular baby names in Turkey, 2021

Flag of Turkey
Flag of Turkey

Turkey is transcontinental: most of the country is located in Western Asia, but a portion is located in Southeastern Europe. Turkey shares land borders with Greece and Bulgaria on the European side, and six other countries (including Armenia and Azerbaijan) on the Asian side.

In 2021, Turkey welcomed 1,079,842 babies — 48.7% were girls, 51.3% were boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Zeynep and Yusuf.

Here are Turkey’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Zeynep
  2. Elif
  3. Asel
  4. Asya
  5. Defne
  6. Nehir – means “river” in Turkish.
  7. Azra
  8. Zümra – based on the Turkish word zümrüt, meaning “emerald.”
  9. Eylül – means “September” in Turkish.
  10. Ecrin
  11. Meryem
  12. Lina
  13. Eslem
  14. Masal – means “fairy tale” in Turkish.
  15. Ebrar
  16. Elisa
  17. Ela
  18. Alya
  19. Zehra
  20. Miray
  21. Duru
  22. Hiranur
  23. Buglem
  24. Ada
  25. Yagmur – means “rain” in Turkish.
  26. Esila
  27. Ikra
  28. Öykü – means “story” in Turkish.
  29. Gökçe (pronounced gok-cheh) – based on the Turkish word gök, meaning “sky” or “blue.”
  30. Melek
  31. Günes (pronounced goo-NESH) – means “sun” in Turkish.
  32. Arya
  33. Melisa
  34. Erva
  35. Ipek – means “silk” in Turkish.
  36. Ayse
  37. Nisa
  38. Kumsal – means “beach” in Turkish.
  39. Aysima
  40. Derin
  41. Mira
  42. Fatma
  43. Sare
  44. Ahsen
  45. Eliz
  46. Deniz
  47. Beren
  48. Hümeyra
  49. Ikranur
  50. Yüsra

Boy Names

  1. Yusuf
  2. Alparslan
  3. Miraç
  4. Ömer Asaf
  5. Eymen
  6. Göktug – like Gökçe, based on the Turkish word gök (“sky,” “blue”).
  7. Ömer
  8. Mustafa
  9. Aras
  10. Ali Asaf
  11. Ahmet
  12. Ali
  13. Kerem
  14. Poyraz – means “north wind” in Turkish; ultimately based upon the ancient Greek word boreas.
  15. Hamza
  16. Muhammed
  17. Çinar
  18. Mehmet
  19. Metehan
  20. Muhammed Ali
  21. Ayaz
  22. Emir
  23. Yigit
  24. Mert
  25. Umut
  26. Yunus Emre
  27. Ibrahim
  28. Alperen
  29. Kuzey – means “north” in Turkish.
  30. Miran
  31. Deniz
  32. Berat
  33. Doruk – means “peak” or “mountaintop” in Turkish.
  34. Furkan
  35. Emirhan
  36. Hasan
  37. Hüseyin
  38. Ege
  39. Yagiz
  40. Aybars
  41. Enes
  42. Atlas
  43. Rüzgar – means “wind” in Turkish.
  44. Burak
  45. Abdullah
  46. Muhammed Emin
  47. Ertugrul
  48. Ismail
  49. Ömer Faruk
  50. Eren

The girls’ top 100 included Hazal (55th), Ece (80th), Meva (94th), and Simay (98th).

The boys’ top 100 included Efe (65th), Bugra (75th), Demir (87th), and Cihangir (90th).

Finally, here are Turkey’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Turkish Statistical Institute, Birth Statistics, 2021 – Turkstat, Wiktionary, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Turkey (public domain)

Popular baby names in Albania, 2019

Flag of Albania
Flag of Albania

I’ve never posted rankings for Albania before, so even though these are out-of-date — even more so than the Iowa rankings from earlier this week — I figured it would be better to have one set as opposed to nothing at all. :)

According to Albania’s Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), the most popular baby names in the country in 2019 were Amelia and Noel.

Here are Albania’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2019:

Girl names

  1. Amelia, 499 baby girls
  2. Ajla, 327
  3. Aria, 182 (tie)
  4. Amelja, 182 (tie)
  5. Leandra, 145
  6. Ambra, 144
  7. Klea, 121
  8. Melisa, 114 (tie)
  9. Amaris, 114 (tie)
  10. Reina, 104

Boy names

  1. Noel, 402 baby boys
  2. Aron, 190
  3. Joel, 188
  4. Roan, 178
  5. Amar, 170
  6. Mateo, 146
  7. Alteo, 121
  8. Luis, 115 (tie)
  9. Roel, 115 (tie)
  10. Dion, 113

The following names didn’t make Albania’s top 10, but did rank #1 in at least one Albanian municipality:

Other top girl namesOther top boy names
Adela, Adriana, Ajsela, Alesia, Alesja, Alisja, Ariela, Arilena, Jasmina, Kostandina, Marilena, NataliaAjan, Albi, Albjon, Aleandro, Alesio, Alfjo, Alison, Amelio, Anesti, Angjelo, David, Denis, Enea, Ergi, Hristos, Mihal, Nezir, Rafael, Samuel, Xhoel

An article about Albanian baby names published several years ago mentioned that, in 2014, none of the top ten names of either gender were of Albanian origin. University of Tirana sociology professor Edmond Dragoti argued that the trendiness of foreign names could be traced back to the fall of communism in Albania because, during the communist era, such names had been banned. He explained:

All the frustration about [parents] not being able to name their children as they wished exploded after the 1990s, when Albania opened up. The unlimited and uncontrolled new freedom quickly surpassed the need for a national identity.

Sources: Emrat më të përdorur për bebet shqiptare në 2019-n! Para se të vendosësh shiko listën, Top 10 names used in the last year – INSTAT, Emrat e rinj – INSTAT, Craze For Foreign Names Alarms Albanian Patriots

Image: Adapted from Flag of Albania (public domain)