Melissa
Melissa is a female given name: 100% of people named Melissa are women, and it is recorded as female in 11 of the 11 countries covered.
Melissa · Mélissa
- Verdict
- Female
- Male / female split
- 0% male / 100% female
- Confidence
- High (64 or more weighted country observations)
- Most common in
- United States, Belgium, France
- Also spelled
- Mélissa
- US births since 1880
- 2,496 male / 753,166 female
- Data
- nam_dict (GFDL) + US SSA
- Updated
- 2026-09-11
How to address Melissa
When you do not know their gender for certain, the full name with no title is the safe choice: "Dear Melissa," in English, "Guten Tag Melissa," in German. Melissa is a female given name: about 100% of people named Melissa are women. A quick look at a profile confirms it for certain.
Ready-made greetings in six languages
English
Dear Melissa,
German
Guten Tag Melissa,
French
Bonjour Melissa,
Spanish
Estimado/a Melissa:
Chinese
Melissa您好：
Japanese
Melissa様
English
Hi Melissa,
German
Hi Melissa,
French
Salut Melissa,
Spanish
Hola Melissa,
Chinese
Melissa你好：
Japanese
Melissaさん
This is a statistical estimate, not a statement about the gender, identity or correct form of address of any particular person.
Country breakdown
| Country | How common | Usually | Male share |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | very common | woman's name | 0% |
| Belgium | uncommon | woman's name | 2% |
| France | uncommon | woman's name | 2% |
| Great Britain | rare | woman's name | 2% |
| Ireland | rare | woman's name | 2% |
| Malta | rare | woman's name | 2% |
| Netherlands | rare | woman's name | 2% |
| Austria | rare | woman's name | 2% |
| Switzerland | rare | woman's name | 2% |
| Germany | rare | woman's name | 2% |
| Italy | rare | woman's name | 2% |
United States birth data
2,496 male · 753,166 female · 755,662 births recorded
Since 1980: 0% male.
Frequently asked questions
Is Melissa a male or female name?
Melissa is a female given name: 100% of people named Melissa are women, and it is recorded as female in 11 of the 11 countries covered.
How do I address Melissa in an email?
When you do not know their gender for certain, the full name with no title is the safe choice: "Dear Melissa," in English, "Guten Tag Melissa," in German. Melissa is a female given name: about 100% of people named Melissa are women. A quick look at a profile confirms it for certain.
Is Melissa a unisex name?
Melissa is not a unisex name: 0% of people named Melissa are men. Melissa leans strongly female overall.
Related names
Sources
Gender by country: nam_dict, the c't first-names dictionary by Joerg Michael, roughly 44,000 names across 55 countries, licensed GFDL. US frequencies: United States Social Security Administration baby-name data, public domain. Method: how we classify names. Full dataset: data & licences. Data built 2026-09-11.
DearWho, "Is Melissa a male or female name?", https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/melissa (accessed 2026-09-11). Data: nam_dict (J. Michael, GFDL) and US SSA, built 2026-09-11.
BibTeX
@misc{dearwho_melissa,
title = {Is Melissa a male or female name?},
author = {{DearWho}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/melissa},
note = {Data: nam_dict (GFDL), US SSA public domain}
}