Melanie
Melanie is a feminine given name derived from the Greek μελανία, "blackness" and that from μέλας, meaning "dark". Borne in its Latin form by two saints, Melania the Elder and her granddaughter Melania the Younger, the name was introduced to England by the Normans in its French form Melanie. However, the name only became common in English usage in the 1930s because of the popularity of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and its 1939 film adaptation, as one of the novel's main characters was named Melanie Hamilton. The name's popularity increased until the 1970s, since remaining constant. Melanie was the 80th most popular name for girls born in the United States in 1957 and, as Mélanie, it was the 86th most popular name for girls born in France in 2004.
People named Melanie
- Melanie Amaro, American singer
- Melanie Watson Bernhardt, American actress and disability advocate
- Melanie Blake, English talent agent and author
- Melanie Blatt, English singer and member of All Saints
- Melanie le Brocquy, Irish sculptor
- Melanie Brown, English singer and member of Spice Girls
- Melanie L. Campbell, American voting rights activist
- Melanie Carpenter, Canadian murder victim
- Melanie Carpenter, American Democratic politician
- Melanie Chisholm, English singer and member of Spice Girls
- Melanie Clewlow, English hockey defender
- Melanie Counsell, Welsh filmmaker, sculptor, and installation artist
- Melanie Doane, Canadian singer
- Melanie Eusebe, English author and entrepreneur
- Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer
- Melanie Fontana, American singer
- Melanie Wade Goodwin, American politician
- Mélanie Gourarier, French social anthropologist
- Melanie Griffith, American actress
- Melanie Hall, English murder victim
- Melanie Hall , Australian basketball player
- Melanie Hasler, Swiss bobsledder
- Sister Mary Melanie Holliday, American Catholic nun
- Melanie Jans, Canadian squash player
- Melanie Johnson, English politician
- Melanie Klaffner, Austrian tennis player
- Melanie Klein, Austrian–English psychoanalyst
- Melanie Kreis, German businesswoman
- Melanie Lambert, American adagio and pair skater
- Melanie Leslie, dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
- Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress
- Melanie Martinez , American actress
- Melanie Martinez , American singer and songwriter
- Melanie Marquez, Filipina beauty queen
- Melanie Mayron, American actress
- Melanie McFadyean, English journalist
- Melanie McGuire, American nurse and murderer
- Melanie Melanson, a missing teenager from Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts since 1989
- Melanie Merkosky, Canadian actress
- Melanie Mikoy, American soccer player
- Melanie Nolan, New Zealand historian
- Melanie Harrison Okoro, American environmental scientist
- Melanie Oudin, American tennis player
- Melanie Paxson, American actress
- Melanie Phillips, English author and journalist
- Melanie Safka, American singer-songwriter often credited as just "Melanie"
- Melanie Scrofano, Canadian actress
- Melanie South, English tennis player
- Melanie Stabel, German sport shooter
- Melanie Stansbury, American politician and scientist
- Melanie Stinnett, American politician
- Melanie Thornton, American singer
- Melanie Weisner, American professional poker player
- Melanie Wiber, Canadian anthropologist
- Melanie Wildman, Canadian business woman, entrepreneur and beauty pageant winner
- Melanie D. Wilson, American academic administrator and law professor
People named Mélanie
- Mélanie Bernier, French actress
- Mélanie Bonis, French composer
- Mélanie Calvat, French nun
- Mélanie Cohl, Belgian singer
- Mélanie Doutey, French actress
- Mélanie Hahnemann, French homeopathic physician
- Mélanie Laurent, French actress and director
- Mélanie de Pourtalès, French salonnière and courtier
- Mélanie Turgeon, Canadian skier
Fictional characters
- Melanie Barnett, a character from the television series The Game
- Melanie Bush, a character in the television series Doctor Who
- Melanie Daniels, a character in the film The Birds
- Melanie Hamilton, a character in the novel Gone with the Wind
- Melanie Jonas, a former character on the American soap opera Days of Our Lives
- Melanie Porter, one of the two leads in the Walt Disney Pictures film College Road Trip played by Raven-Symoné
- Melanie Marcus, a character in the television series Queer as Folk
- Melanie Puckett, twin sister of Sam Puckett in the TV series iCarly
- Melanie Stryder, a character from the book The Host by Stephenie Meyer
- Melanie Walker, a character from ''Batman Beyond''