Fun Facts About the Name Melrose
- More than 1 thousand babies named Melrose: U.S. records list 1,229 babies given the name Melrose from 1880 through 2025. Even 51 boys received the name Melrose - about 1 boy for every 23 girls.
What Does the Name Melrose Mean?
Melrose is a Scottish place name that is also used as a given name. It comes from Brittonic, the Celtic language spoken in southern Scotland and northern England before Gaelic and English spread through those regions. The name is usually analyzed as two elements: *mailos, meaning "bare" or "bald" (the ancestor of Welsh moel), and *ros, meaning "moor," "heath," or "headland" (Welsh ros). The literal sense is generally given as "bare moor" or "bare headland." The second element is the less certain of the two, since ros can refer either to open moorland or to a promontory, and the Brittonic forms themselves are scholarly reconstructions rather than attested spellings.
Melrose Name History & Origins
The earliest recorded form of the name is Mailros, which Bede mentions in the early eighth century as a monastery on the River Tweed. That site, now called Old Melrose, lay in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, in what is now the Scottish Borders. The name passed into Old English and later Older Scots as Melros before settling into its modern spelling.
In 1136 a Cistercian abbey was founded at a new site a few miles away, and the town of Melrose grew up around it. Melrose Abbey became one of the wealthiest religious houses in Scotland, and the heart of Robert the Bruce is said to have been buried there. Sir Walter Scott set his long poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) at Melrose Abbey, an association that kept the name in front of nineteenth-century readers.
As a first name, Melrose is a transferred use of the place name, and it also occurs as a surname. In the United States it has been used as a girl's name since at least the nineteenth century; the city of Melrose, Massachusetts, takes its name from the Scottish town. A separate later association is the television series Melrose Place (1992 - 1999).
How Popular is the Name Melrose?
Melrose has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2024. Its best rank was #1,378 in 1926.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #3,880 | 38 | 0.0024% |
| 2024 | #3,248 | 49 | 0.0030% |
| 2023 | #3,954 | 38 | 0.0024% |
| 2022 | #4,083 | 36 | 0.0022% |
| 2021 | #3,984 | 37 | 0.0023% |
| 2020 | #3,261 | 48 | 0.0030% |
| 2019 | #5,402 | 24 | 0.0014% |
| 2018 | #3,774 | 40 | 0.0024% |
| 2017 | #5,286 | 25 | 0.0014% |
| 2016 | #4,942 | 28 | 0.0016% |
| 2015 | #7,493 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2014 | #4,730 | 30 | 0.0017% |
| 2013 | #5,774 | 23 | 0.0013% |
| 2012 | #5,201 | 27 | 0.0015% |
| 2011 | #9,537 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2010 | #7,776 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2009 | #11,218 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 2008 | #8,824 | 14 | 0.0007% |
| 2007 | #9,970 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 2006 | #14,603 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1962 | #6,336 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1961 | #7,213 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1955 | #5,631 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1953 | #3,615 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1952 | #4,021 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1951 | #5,953 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1950 | #5,844 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1949 | #5,772 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1947 | #3,381 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1946 | #3,879 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1944 | #3,296 | 9 | 0.0007% |
| 1943 | #3,711 | 8 | 0.0006% |
| 1941 | #2,982 | 10 | 0.0008% |
| 1940 | #2,381 | 13 | 0.0011% |
| 1939 | #2,181 | 15 | 0.0014% |
| 1938 | #1,997 | 17 | 0.0015% |
| 1937 | #3,344 | 8 | 0.0008% |
| 1936 | #1,853 | 18 | 0.0017% |
| 1935 | #1,974 | 17 | 0.0016% |
| 1934 | #2,389 | 13 | 0.0012% |
| 1933 | #2,242 | 14 | 0.0014% |
| 1932 | #2,452 | 13 | 0.0012% |
| 1931 | #2,005 | 17 | 0.0016% |
| 1930 | #2,174 | 16 | 0.0014% |
| 1929 | #1,992 | 18 | 0.0016% |
| 1928 | #1,625 | 26 | 0.0023% |
| 1927 | #1,608 | 27 | 0.0023% |
| 1926 | #1,378 | 34 | 0.0029% |
| 1925 | #1,989 | 20 | 0.0016% |
| 1924 | #2,188 | 18 | 0.0014% |
| 1923 | #2,239 | 17 | 0.0014% |
| 1922 | #1,494 | 31 | 0.0026% |
| 1921 | #1,754 | 25 | 0.0020% |
| 1920 | #1,931 | 21 | 0.0018% |
| 1919 | #1,549 | 27 | 0.0024% |
| 1918 | #1,672 | 24 | 0.0021% |
| 1917 | #1,893 | 19 | 0.0018% |
| 1916 | #1,473 | 26 | 0.0025% |
| 1915 | #2,211 | 14 | 0.0014% |
| 1914 | #2,378 | 10 | 0.0013% |
| 1913 | #2,275 | 9 | 0.0014% |
| 1912 | #1,589 | 13 | 0.0023% |
| 1908 | #2,332 | 5 | 0.0015% |
| 1902 | #1,957 | 5 | 0.0019% |
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | #4,079 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1929 | #3,156 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1927 | #3,676 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1923 | #4,660 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1922 | #4,739 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1921 | #3,140 | 9 | 0.0008% |
| 1916 | #3,750 | 6 | 0.0007% |
| 1915 | #3,692 | 6 | 0.0007% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Melrose Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have psychic power. You can carry on for others with joy. You have a receptive nature and may bear burdens for others. You are pragmatic, thorough, strong-willed, practical and stubborn at times. You are hard working, often martyr to duty. You like home and security above all. You have an eventful, exciting life. You are versatile and have the ability to learn easily.
You find the best contentment in life when you own your own home and provide well for your family and loved ones. You have a great sense of responsibility and duty. You are comforting, appreciative and affectionate. Your obligation in life is to hold justice and truth, and if you follow the Law, you can find the great happiness and satisfaction.
✦ Melrose's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Melrose's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.