MEANING & HISTORY
What does Melinda mean?
Melinda is an eighteenth-century created name associated with forms such as Melanie and Melissa plus an inda ending. Those parent names have different Greek roots: black or dark for Melanie and bee for Melissa.
The combination history does not create one ancient phrase meaning sweet darkness. The specific modern formation is the useful explanation.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
Coined in the eighteenth century from names such as Melanie and Melissa + -inda.
A female given name originating as a coinage.
Wiktionary: Melinda (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Melinda
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Melinda Magsino
Filipino journalist
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
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 ↗Wikidata
1
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Melinda Magsino
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Melinda 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 Melinda
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
- Belinda♀Seventeenth-century name used in Pope’s The Rape of the Lock
- Melina·Elaborated Mel; a Greek honey connection is documented
- Erlinda♀Spanish Herlinde: army + soft or tender
- Linda♀Soft or tender; also associated with beautiful
- Melissa♀Bee
- Minda·Familiar form of Melinda
- Glenda♀Probably Glenn with a feminine da ending
- Medin·Lion in a Macedonian Muslim naming account
What rhymes with Melinda?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Melinda 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.
- Wikidata given-name item Q16422246 — Melinda (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Melinda Magsino (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q16422246 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Melinda (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Melinda (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.