Melody

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Melody: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Melody: Recorded every year since 1996, its highest recorded position is #230, and it stood at #718 in 2025.

4registrars recorded it
54times a registrar ranked it
30years from first to last
#230highest recorded position
10groupings it qualifies for

Region

Rising

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#608
1997	#571
1998	#758
1999	#548
2000	#539
2001	#557
2002	#523
2003	#378
2004	#448
2005	#477
2006	#354
2007	#359
2008	#336
2009	#306
2010	#293
2011	#275
2012	#285
2013	#261
2014	#293
2015	#269
2016	#276
2017	#308
2018	#312
2019	#295
2020	#290
2021	#297
2022	#258
2023	#236
2024	#289

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

RisingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in England and Wales in every year from 1996 to 2024.

In 2024: #230 among girls in Scotland, #289 among girls in England and Wales, #372 among girls in Republic of Ireland, #407 among girls in Northern Ireland.

Official data from 4 national registrars across 4 regions, 1996–2025 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1996
First recorded at #608 among girls in England and Wales in 1996 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Girls
Most recent2025
Most recently recorded at #718 among girls in Republic of Ireland, in 2025.
Republic of Ireland · Girls

Melody appears in 3 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, which has ranked it in 29 years beginning in 1996, and has registered 3,647 births with the name.

Melody across 3 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Melody's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Girls	#608 (1996)	#236 (2023)	#289 (2024)	29 of 29	3,647 (1996–2024)	192 (2023)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#512 (2002)	#364 (2023)	#718 (2025)	20 of 24	117 (2002–2025)	10 (2023)
Northern Ireland · Girls	#439 (2014)	#298 (2021)	#407 (2024)	4 of 11	14 (2014–2024)	5 (2021)

Melody by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Melody in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	166	4 of 10	42
2000s	937	10 of 10	94
2010sbusiest	1,697	10 of 10	170
2020s	847	5 of 10	169

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2010s were its busiest decade, averaging 170 births a year.

Its sharpest single-year move came between 2005 and 2006, when recorded births rose by 44, from 77 to 121.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Melody appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 1996 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #230 in Scotland in 2024.

Melody's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	female	#289	155	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	female	#236	192	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	female	#258	181	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	female	#297	158	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	female	#290	161	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	female	#295	164	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	female	#312	152	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	female	#308	158	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	female	#276	180	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	female	#269	185	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#293	163	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	female	#261	183	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#285	170	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#275	179	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#293	163	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	female	#306	151	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#336	133	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#359	121	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#354	121	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#477	77	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#448	79	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#378	97	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#523	57	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#557	50	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#539	51	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#548	51	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	female	#758	30	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	female	#571	45	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	female	#608	40	High	Verified
2024	Northern Ireland	female	#407	3	High	Verified
2023	Northern Ireland	female	#391	3	High	Verified
2021	Northern Ireland	female	#298	5	High	Verified
2014	Northern Ireland	female	#439	3	High	Verified
2025	Republic of Ireland	female	#718	4	High	Verified
2024	Republic of Ireland	female	#372	10	High	Verified
2023	Republic of Ireland	female	#364	10	High	Verified
2022	Republic of Ireland	female	#502	7	High	Verified
2021	Republic of Ireland	female	#464	8	High	Verified
2019	Republic of Ireland	female	#457	8	High	Verified
2018	Republic of Ireland	female	#629	5	High	Verified
2017	Republic of Ireland	female	#734	4	High	Verified
2016	Republic of Ireland	female	#585	6	High	Verified
2015	Republic of Ireland	female	#660	5	High	Verified
2014	Republic of Ireland	female	#536	7	High	Verified
2013	Republic of Ireland	female	#540	7	High	Verified
2012	Republic of Ireland	female	#677	5	High	Verified
2011	Republic of Ireland	female	#695	5	High	Verified
2010	Republic of Ireland	female	#663	5	High	Verified
2009	Republic of Ireland	female	#641	5	High	Verified
2008	Republic of Ireland	female	#665	5	High	Verified
2005	Republic of Ireland	female	#689	3	High	Verified
2004	Republic of Ireland	female	#576	4	High	Verified
2002	Republic of Ireland	female	#512	4	High	Verified
2024	Scotland	female	#230	16	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland
Scotland hub — collected by National Records of Scotland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 4 registrars between 1996 and 2025, ranked in 30 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #230, first reached in 2024.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 192 births, registered in England and Wales in 2023.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2002, and 28 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Melodi · #3160, 16y
Melodie · #1387, 29y
Melody-Rose · #2187, 15y
Melvin · #119, 45y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 4 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Alexandria · #230, 31y
Fallon · #230, 33y
Kairo · #230, 29y
Connell · #231, 30y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Alexandria · #230, 31y
Demi-Lee · #230, 26y
Kairo · #230, 29y
Beibhinn · #229, 30y

Melody was ranked #230 in Scotland · Girls in 2024. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Melody and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Melody without appearing here.

Melody moved ahead of

Shania Compare
In 2018 they stood at #629 and #512 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 2019 that had become #457 and #871.
Paula Compare
In 1998 they stood at #758 and #672 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1999 that had become #548 and #900.
Brittany Compare
In 2000 they stood at #539 and #275 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2001 that had become #557 and #871.
Tyler Compare
In 2005 they stood at #477 and #459 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2006 that had become #354 and #649.

Moved ahead of Melody

Sienna Compare
In 2003 they stood at #378 and #427 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2004 that had become #448 and #155.
Violet Compare
In 2004 they stood at #448 and #607 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2005 that had become #477 and #273.
Willow Compare
In 1997 they stood at #571 and #983 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1998 that had become #758 and #597.
Maja Compare
In 2023 they stood at #364 and #495 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 2024 that had become #372 and #243.

Moved the opposite way to Melody

Abigail Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Melody went from #608 to #289 while Abigail went from #21 to #154.
Aimee Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Melody went from #608 to #289 while Aimee went from #70 to #1603.
Aisling Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Melody went from #608 to #289 while Aisling went from #440 to #2000.
Alex Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Melody went from #608 to #289 while Alex went from #161 to #2253.

Moved the same way as Melody

Ada Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Melody went from #608 to #289 and Ada from #2683 to #40.
Alma Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Melody went from #608 to #289 and Alma from #2096 to #234.
Alyssa Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Melody went from #608 to #289 and Alyssa from #783 to #285.
Amalie Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Melody went from #608 to #289 and Amalie from #2096 to #1128.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 1996 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #230 in Scotland in 2024. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Melody

Melody at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Melody across 3 official records

Melody by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Melody appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Melody

Melody and the names beside it

Melody moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Melody

Moved the opposite way to Melody

Moved the same way as Melody

Melody at a glance

Melody across 3 official records

Melody by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Melody appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Melody

Melody and the names beside it

Melody moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Melody

Moved the opposite way to Melody

Moved the same way as Melody