Melba

Where Melba comes from

Coined by Nellie Melba as a pseudonym; derived from Melbourne.
— Wiktionary's entry for Melba
  • English
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1893
    First appearance
    #1,175 among girls, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1924
    Peak, #202
    998 babies named Melba — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1926
    Melba Liston born
    American jazz trombonist, musical arranger, and composer
  4. 1945
    Melba Moore born
    American singer, and actress
  5. 1948
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #370.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from English.
Namesakes
  • Melba Moore · American singer, and actress, born 1945
  • Melba Liston · American jazz trombonist, musical arranger, and composer, 1926–1999
  • Melba Montgomery · American musician, 1938–2025
  • Melba Phillips · American physicist and science educator, 1907–2004
  • Melba Hernández · Cuban politician, 1921–2014

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.