The modern name Melinda is a combination of "Mel" with the suffix "-inda". "Mel" can be derived from names such as Melanie meaning "dark, black" in Greek, or from Melissa (μέλισσα) meaning "Honeybee" in Greek. It is also associated with the Greek word meli, meaning "honey", and with Linda, from "lind" meaning "gentle, soft, tender" in the Germanic languages. Three possible nicknames for Melinda may be "Mindy" or "Meli" or "Mel".
The typical English pronunciation of Melinda is /məˈlɪndə/. In Hungarian however, the stress is on the first syllable: [ˈmɛlindɒ].
Usage and popularity
The name Melinda is used in English and Hungarian. In the United States, its popularity peaked in 1973 at No. 72. In 1990 it was in the top 1000 names in the US, and in 2002 it was in the top 100 names in Hungary. Since its peak the popularity of the name Melinda has been gradually declining in the United States, to last be seen on the top 1000 list in 2002 at No. 932. Variations in spelling include Melynda, Melyndah, Malinda, and Milinda.
József Katona, Hungarian playwright and poet, used the name Melinda first in 1815 in his legendary historical tragedy Bánk bán.
In Hungary, December 2 is Melinda Day.
Melinda Bush, Illinois senator
Melinda Clarke, American actress
Melinda Culea, American actress
Melinda Czink, Hungarian tennis player
Melinda Doolittle, American singer and American Idol contestant
Melinda Estes, American neuropathologist
Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, Australian athlete
Melinda Gates, philanthropist and wife of Bill Gates
Melinda Harmon, US judge
Melinda Hsu Taylor, American TV writer and producer
Melinda Katz, New York politician
Melinda Kinnaman, Swedish actress
Melinda Ledbetter, wife and manager of Brian Wilson
Malinda Lo, American author
Melinda Lopez, American playwright
Melinda Marx, American actress and daughter of Groucho Marx
Melinda Messenger, English model and TV presenter
Melinda Pavey, Australian politician
Melinda Saxe, American magician
Melinda Schneider, Australian Country Singer
Melinda Schwegmann, Louisiana state representative and lieutenant-governor
Melinda Shankar, Canadian actress
Melinda Szik, Czink's Hungarian compatriot and weightlifter
Melinda Tankard Reist, Australian blogger and social campaigner
Melinda Taylor, Australian ICC lawyer
Melinda Wagner, American composer and Pulitzer Prize winner
Malinda Williams, American actress
In film and television
Melinda (film), American film, 1972
Melinda and Melinda, American film, 2005
Melinda Gordon, Jennifer Love Hewitt's character from Ghost Whisperer
Melinda from The Real World: Austin
Melinda Warren and Melinda Halliwell, from TV show Charmed
Melinda Warner, Medical examiner on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Melinda Cramer, character on One Life to Live
Melinda May from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Melinda, a centaur from the Disney movie Fantasia
"Sweet Melinda, the peasants call her the Goddess of Gloom" from Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by Bob Dylan, 1965
Melinda, one of the two main characters in the story of Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth's 1999 concept album Still Life, which includes the song "Face of Melinda"
"Sweet Dreams, Melinda" by Trey Anastasio on the album Shine
"Sweet Melinda" by John Denver on the album John Denver
"Come Away Melinda", written by Fred Hellerman and Fran Minkoff, and recorded by Harry Belafonte (on the album Streets I Have Walked), Judy Collins (Judy Collins 3), Theodore Bikel (A Folksinger's Choice), Tim Rose (Tim Rose), Bobbie Gentry (Local Gentry), Uriah Heep (...Very 'Eavy ...Very 'Umble), Velvett Fogg), Kenny Rankin (Mind-Dusters), The Big 3 (Live at the Recording Studio), and L.Stadt.
"Me and My Melinda" by Kay Kyser
"Remember Melinda" by TQ on the album They Never Saw Me Coming
"Melinda was mine..." from Solitary Man by Neil Diamond
"Face of Melinda" by Mikael Åkerfeldt, from Opeth's album Still Life
"Melinda" by Curved Air appears on the album Retrospective
"Melinda" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Melinda, wife of Bánk in József Katona's legendary historical tragedy Bánk bán.
Melinda ("Lindy") in the book The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews
Melinda Sordino, main character of the book Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson
Melinda, porn star mentioned in the book Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Melinda, picture book written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dagmara Matusak
Melinda Loveless tortured and burned Shanda Sharer to death with the help of other teenage girls.
Melinda is a consortium producing apples in Trentino.
Melinda is a town and airport in Belize
