Melvin

Meaning & origin●

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◐

Melvin is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name397K records spelled Melvin51 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, France, Philippines, El Salvador

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Melvín, Mélvin, Mëlvïn, Mëlvin, Mel-Vin

• Indonesian given name13K records spelled Melvin5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written Mèlvìn, Mélvîñ

• Polish given name7.4K records spelled Melvin24 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, United Kingdom, Bulgaria

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Croatian

  Also written Мелвин, Melvyn, Malvin, Мэлвин, Мелвін

• Thai given name3.6K records spelled Melvin11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Thailand, United States, Laos, Philippines

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written เมลวิน, เมล์วิน, Melveen, เมลวิ่น, เมลวน

72 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●

Melvin 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 English, variant of Melville; also used independently

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, From the bad or poor settlement; Old French

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• 3. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic 6 Maoil Mhm ‘descendant of the devotee of Maoilmhm’, a personal name meaning ‘gentle chieftain’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• Very popular modern name of uncertain origin, probably a variant of the less common Melville. The variant Melvyn is associated particularly with the film star Melvyn Douglas (1901-81). 77

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Bheathain (see McIlwaine).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

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) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Vesto Melvin Slipherb. 1875USAmerican astronomer (1875–1969)
• Clarence Zenerb. 1905USnot in their usual nameAmerican physicist
• Melvin Calvinb. 1911USAmerican biochemist (1911–1997)
• Howard Fastb. 1914USnot in their usual nameAmerican novelist (1914–2003)
• Melvin Lairdb. 1922US20th-century American politician (1922–2016)
• Mel Torméb. 1925USnot in their usual nameAmerican recording artist (1925–1999)
• Melvin Schwartzb. 1932USAmerican experimental physicist (1932-2006)
• Melvin Burgessb. 1954GBBritish children's writer
• Melvin Stewartb. 1968USAmerican swimmer
• Mel Rodriguezb. 1973USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor

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 · 1,028 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Melvin?

We estimate roughly 138 thousand people bear Melvin (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Melvin have the most bearers?

We estimate about 111 thousand people bear Melvin in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled melvin.

Where is Melvin most common?

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

How common is Melvin compared with other names?

In the United States, Melvin is the 324th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Melvin a male or female name?

Melvin is a male 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 Melvin mean?

Recorded meaning: (i) from Scottish Gaelic Mac Gille Bheathain or Irish Gaelic Ó Maoil Mhín, 'descendant of the follower of (St) Michael/Min'; (ii) a different form of Melville.