Melisa

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Მელისა in GE Georgia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Melisa is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Turkish given name154K records spelled Melisa8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Netherlands, United States

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani

  Also written M'Elisa, Mélisa, Mélisà, Melisà, Mêlisa

• a separate given name31K records spelled Melisa2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Türkiye

  Also written Mélisa

• Indonesian given name21K records spelled Melisa3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, Spain, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Melisa

• Polish given name17K records spelled Melisa92 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Türkiye, Russia

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Turkish

  Also written Melissa, Мелисса, Мелиса, Меліса, Мелісса

• Swahili given name6.5K records spelled Melisa4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Kenya, United States, Philippines, South Africa

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Mèlisa

58 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Melisa is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Spanish, Griego melissa: 'abeja'.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• In German, weibl. Vom., Schreibvariante von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Dulce como la miel

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• In Polish, lemon balm, melissa (any plant of the genus Melissa)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Latvian, divdīgļlapju klases asteru apakšklases panātru rindas lūpziežu dzimtas ģints ("Melissa"), ~3 sugas, Latvijā 1 sugu audzē kā kultūraugu

  as a word·Tēzaurs.lv (Dictionary and Thesaurus of Latvian, AiLab / LU MII)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 78 years between 1948–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Melisa Wallackb. 1968USscreenwriter, film director, and former business manager
• Kid Sisterb. 1980USnot in their usual nameAmerican rapper
• Melisa Sözenb. 1985TRTurkish actor (born 1985)
• Melai Cantiverosb. 1988PHnot in their usual nameFilipino actress and comedian
• Melisa Aslı Pamukb. 1991NLMiss Turkey 2011, contestant at Miss Universe 2011, actress and model
• Melisa Ertürkb. 1993TRTurkish association football player (born 1993)
• Melisa Şenolsunb. 1996TRTurkish actor (born 1996)
• Melisa Döngelb. 1999TRTurkish actor and fashion model (born 1999)
• Melisa Filisb. 2002GBIrish association football player (born 2002)
• Melisa Martinkenaite Zenaactress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 973 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Melisa?

We estimate roughly 43 thousand people bear Melisa (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Melisa have the most bearers?

Melisa is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled melisa.

Where is Melisa most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Melisa is densest in Albania — about 1 in 1.1 thousand people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Melisa compared with other names?

In Argentina, Melisa is the 311th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Melisa a male or female name?

Melisa is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Melisa mean?

Recorded meaning: lemon balm