Melissa is the Greek word for "honeybee"; in Greek myth Melissa was a nymph who fed the infant Zeus with honey, and the name also appears in the romances of Ariosto and Spenser. It was a top 5 name in the United States in the late 1970s and is carried by actresses Melissa McCarthy and Melissa Gilbert. Melissa still ranked number 71 in 2000 but has slipped to number 420 in 2025.