Given name & surname
Melchior
“the king of the city”
Melchior is used as a given name and a surname. One Polish interpretation is “the king of the city.”
Original PolishMajcher
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Polish interpretation is “the king of the city.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Polish.
How it developed
From Latin Melchior, from Hebrew מלכיאור (“king of light”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1915. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Melchior through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 48
- 48 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1915
- 9 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2007. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 9 in 1915. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 167 as a first name in 2020; 1,310 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Melchior’s family of names
In English usage, Melchior has a diminutive in Mel. In Latin usage, Melchior has a later derivative in BELCHIOR. In English usage, Melchior has a conventional equivalent in the Spanish form Melchor.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Melchior has relatives in 14 languages. Lines run from its Polish roots to each of them.
Polishwhere Melchior comes from · 2 names
Nicknames & forms 10
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Majchervariant · Polish
- Melchiorekdiminutive · Polish
- Meldiminutive · English
- Melchorvariant · Spanish, Galician
- Melchervariant
- Melchoirvariant
- Melkiorvariant
- Melkervariant · Swedish
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Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 10
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Մելքոնequivalent
- MelchiorreItalian
- Belchiorderivative · Portuguese
- MelchioreItalian
- МельхіорUkrainian
- MelicharSlovak, Czech
- МельхиорRussian
- ΜελχιόρGreek
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People named Melchior
- Mel FerrerAmerican actor, director and producer (1917–2008)
- Melchior NdadayePresident of Burundi (1953–1993)
- Melchior d'Hondecoeterpainter and engraver from the Northern Netherlands (1636-1695)
- Melchor MúzquizPresident of Mexico (1790-1844)
- Melchior BroederlamEarly Netherlandish painter1355–1410
- Melchior HoffmanAnabaptist prophet (1490-1543)
- Melchior von DiepenbrockCatholic cardinal (1798-1853)
- Melchior GrodzieckiPolish Jesuit, saint, martyr1584–1619
- Melchior TreubDutch botanist (1851-1910)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Melchior, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Baltasar
“baal protect the king”
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Manko
“a king”
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Vassili
“king”
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Egbert
“one who wields a brilliant sword”
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Korol
“king”
—
László
László is a masculine given name from Slavic. It is used in Hungarian.
>99% boys
Vasilijus
“of the king, kingly, royal”
>99% boys
Ferdie
“a courageous voyager”
>99% boys