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Melchior

Boys' name

King of light

Melchior has been given to 48 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1915, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Melchior, 2007

1 in 800,000

Melchior over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02.557.51018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Melchior: meaning, origin, and history

King of light

Hebrew

What Melchior means

Melchior means “king of light”, associated with מלכיאור.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Melchior, from Hebrew מלכיאור (“king of light”), from מלך (“king”) + אור (“light”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Melchior (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Melchior is used in English, German and Polish. Its origins include Hebrew.

Melchior comes through Latin Melchior and Hebrew מלכיאור.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Melchior is pronounced /ˈmɛl.ki.ɔː(ɹ)/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 48 boys were recorded with the name Melchior between 1915 and 2007. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1915; its best national rank was #2,753 in 1915.

How common is Melchior?

Melchior had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2007, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2007
1 in 800,000
5 of 3,997,748 births
Among boys only
1 in 415,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2007
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
554,207 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Melchior sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2007 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 554,207 children born in 2007 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Melchior. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Melchiors were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Melchior was born before 1921 — so the typical Melchior is around 104 today.

Median birth year
1921
About 104 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
37.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
10
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 37.5% of all recorded uses (18).

Is Melchior rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1915 (9)
Years since peak
110
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
40.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,753
1915

Spellings of Melchior

Melchior is not the most common spelling — Melchor is, with 94.9% against Melchior's 5.1%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Melchior around the world

Where Melchior ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2024–2025
    #5,137
    in 2025
  • France
    1900–2025
    #680
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    1986–1986
    #460
    in 1986

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Melchior by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,753
1915
Peak year
1915
9 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2007
All-time count
48
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Melchior

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MelakaiMeliodasMeldrickMelijahMelroseSuperiorMelbernMelbertMelesioMeliqueMelachiMelvineMelloMelbinMelvisWarriorMelvonExzaviorMelfredMelkinXsaviorMelquisedecMelvanMelvern

Sibling names for Melchior

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Melchior

Top names of 1915, Melchior's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1915Boys' names starting with M