Melaniia
A Ukrainian name carried into Polish, rooted in the Greek word for "black, dark". Almost no one here has met one, but it's surfacing now: a small run of girls has been given it through the 2020s, all of them female.
Melaniia Pronunciation
Melaniia is pronounced me-LAHNY-yah (/mɛˈlaɲja/).
What Melaniia means
Where Melaniia comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Melaniia comes from Greek, from melas, melaina, meaning black or dark. The form most Polish readers know is Melania, and Melaniia is the Ukrainian spelling that keeps the doubled vowel of the Cyrillic original.
The dark in the name is old and literal. Greek melas gave words for ink, for storm clouds, for the deep of night. Yet the association that traveled furthest was a person. Melania the Younger, a Roman heiress of the fifth century, gave away an enormous fortune and became a saint honored in both the Eastern and Western churches. Her name day falls on the last day of December.
In Ukraine the name settled comfortably, and Melaniia is read there without a second thought. On a Polish class register it stands slightly apart from Melania, a single letter marking a border. The meaning underneath stays fixed. Black, dark.
How many people are named Melaniia
1 in 21573 women in Poland is named Melaniia. 1,045 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #941 among female names.
Melaniia's popularity over time
16 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #577 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2021.
Where Melaniia is most popular
Melaniia is most popular in Łódź, 113% above the national average (6 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Masovian (+78%) and Silesian (+78%). It is least common in Lesser Poland and Pomeranian, 40% and 39% below average respectively.
-
Łódź6 girls born+113%
-
Masovian14 girls born+78%
-
Silesian9 girls born+78%
-
Greater Poland7 girls born+46%
-
Lower Silesian5 girls born+43%
-
West Pomeranian2 girls born+7%
-
Pomeranian2 girls born−39%
-
Lesser Poland3 girls born−40%
Melaniia as a middle name
Melaniia is a first name for 1,045 women in Poland and a middle name for another 4, a 100/0 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 4256th, between Meital (4) and Melchiora (4).
-
#4254 Megi4
-
#4255 Meital4
-
#4256 Melaniia4
-
#4257 Melchiora4
-
#4258 Meli̇ke4