Given name & surname
Melis
“honey”
Melis is a surname, possibly from Sardinian. It is used in Italian, Dutch, and Turkish.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Melis possibly goes back to a word meaning “honey.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1987. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Melis through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 344
- 0 boys · 344 girls
- Most popular year
- 2015
- 19 babies
- 2025
- 13
- #8,180 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +8%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 13 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 8,180 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 8.3% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 19 in 2015. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 527 as a first name in 2020; 508 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.
Melis’s family of names
In Turkish usage, Melis was borrowed from the Greek form Μέλισσα. In Dutch usage, Melis as a surname has a related form in MILLIS. In Greek usage, Melis as a surname is a transliteration of Μέλης.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Melis
- Melis SezenTurkish actor, dancer and fashion model (born 1997)
- Melis BirkanTurkish actor (born 1981)
- Melis Stoke13th-century Dutch writer1230–1300
- Melis AbzalovSoviet and Uzbek actor, director, screenwriter, and producer (1938-2016)
- Melis DurulTurkish volleyball player (born 1993)
- Melis YılmazTurkish volleyball player (born 1997)
- Melis TüzüngüçTurkish actor (born 1994)
- Melis AlphanTurkish journalist (born 1978)
- Melis SezerTurkish tennis player (born 1993)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Melis, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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