Melody, one of the more common musical names and word names, comes from the English word melody, which is derived from the Greek word melos, meaning "song," combined with aeido, meaning "to sing." Merriam-Webster defines melody as "a sweet or agreeable succession or arrangement of sounds." The name first appeared in the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 for girl names in the 1940s and was a top-200 girl's name by 1954. It saw a slight decline in usage in the 1980s and 1990s, but has now been a top-200 girl's name every year since 2012 and came three spots away from a top-100 finish in 2023. It's the name singer Ray J gave his daughter Melody Love, born in 2018.
