MEANING & HISTORY
What does Melford mean?
Flora Haines Loughead’s 1934 given-name dictionary, as reproduced in the attributed entry, gives Melford a ford-by-the-mill interpretation. That is a documented historical name-book account, not a settled explanation of every same-spelled place or surname.
Modern place-name studies distinguish several Melford and Milford histories, so the older gloss is presented with its source and limits.
Pronunciation & syllables
A dictionary pronunciation or syllable division has not been verified for this exact spelling. Use the synthetic reading as a starting point and confirm the intended pronunciation with the family.
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗THE RECORDED SPELLING
Find Melford in the sources
Public-record evidence
OpenHalalan · COMELEC · 2001
Given-name field in the source
MELFORDCSV record 7,919 (header counted as record 1)
The source transcribes elected-candidate lists. The record number locates the quoted given-name field.
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Melford in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Melford
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Ford♂River crossing; from an English surname
- Melchor♂Form of Melchior, traditionally a king-and-light name
- Melchora·Melchor counterpart; proposed Hebrew king and light formation
- Melo·Documented Ossetian and Georgian familiar-name history
- Melody♀Melody or tune
- Clifford♂Ford by a cliff or steep bank
- Gaylord·From Gaillard, associated with strength or liveliness
- Medardo♂From Medardus, with a strong or brave element
What rhymes with Melford?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Melford further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Flora Haines Loughead (1934), Dictionary of Given Names with Origins and Meanings: Melford, reproduced by Forebears (opens in a new tab)
Attributed historical given-name entry gives ford by the mill; source’s broad language taxonomy is not adopted.
- James B. Johnston: Place-Names of Scotland, Melford/Melfort entry (opens in a new tab)
Independent place-name study illustrates that exact Melford has other local histories; no universal surname or ancestry transfer asserted.