Melanie, a variant of the Latin name Melania, is derived from the Greek word melaina, meaning "black" or "dark." It first appeared in the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 for girl names in 1938 and was a top-250 girl's name by 1948. Its rise in popularity was likely due to a character named Melanie in the novel "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell, released in 1936. Melanie has remained in the top-250 ever since and spent most of the mid-to-late 1900s and 2000s in the top-100. It's now on a decline, but was still given to more than 2,100 baby girls in 2023. Some parents, though rare, prefer to spell it Meilani or Melany.
