Melisa
A quiet name through the 2000s and 2010s, it's climbing fast now: more girls were given it last year than in any earlier year on record. From Greek, where it means "bee".
Melisa Pronunciation
Melisa is pronounced me-LEE-sah (/mɛˈlisa/).
What Melisa means
Where Melisa comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Melisa comes from the Greek word melissa, meaning bee. The Greeks kept bees for their honey, and the word stood as a woman's name well before it reached Poland. In old Greek cult, certain priestesses went by melissae, the bees. Its short meaning holds steady: bee, in Polish pszczoła.
Turkey took up Melisa widely across recent decades. In Turkish the same word names lemon balm, the herb whose flowers pull bees close; botanists file the plant as Melissa officinalis. Spanish speakers carry the name too, usually spelled Melissa with a doubled s. The Polish version keeps a single s.
Fill in a form at the urząd and Melisa asks for no explaining. Its Greek root has not shifted in centuries. The name means bee.
How many people are named Melisa
1 in 20952 women in Poland is named Melisa. 1,076 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #930 among female names.
Melisa's popularity over time
118 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #238 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.
Where Melisa is most popular
Melisa is most popular in Pomeranian, 44% above the national average (46 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+31%) and Greater Poland (+28%). It is least common in Podlaskie and Świętokrzyskie, 86% and 59% below average respectively.
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Pomeranian46 girls born+44%
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Silesian65 girls born+31%
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Greater Poland60 girls born+28%
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Lower Silesian40 girls born+17%
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Subcarpathian30 girls born+14%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian25 girls born+5%
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Warmian-Masurian16 girls born+2%
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Opole10 girls born0%
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Masovian73 girls born−5%
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Lubusz10 girls born−7%
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West Pomeranian16 girls born−13%
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Lesser Poland37 girls born−25%
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Lublin16 girls born−28%
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Łódź19 girls born−31%
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Świętokrzyskie5 girls born−59%
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Podlaskie2 girls born−86%
Melisa as a middle name
Melisa is a first name for 1,076 women in Poland and a middle name for another 210, an 84/16 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 465th, between Miłosława (213) and Ksawera (206).
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463
213Lorena
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464
213Miłosława
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465210Melisa
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466
206Ksawera
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467
206Mila