Explore the Family Name Melhem

The meaning of Melhem

Arabic (Levant): from the personal name Melhem, a variant of Milhim, of unknown (non-Arabic) origin and meaning. Bearers of this surname are both Christians and Muslims.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Melhem in the United States?

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname "Melhem" has notably increased from the year 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Melhem was ranked as the 91,004th most popular surname, but by 2010 it had climbed to the 64,200th position, indicating a significant rise in popularity by 29.45%. Furthermore, the count of individuals with this surname went up from 188 to 310 during the same period, marking an increase of nearly 65%. The proportion of people named Melhem per 100,000 also grew by 57.14%, from 0.07 in 2000 to 0.11 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#91,004	#64,200	29.45%
Count	188	310	64.89%
Proportion per 100k	0.07	0.11	57.14%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Melhem

When examining the ethnic identity associated with the surname Melhem, based on the Decennial U.S. Census, we find some interesting shifts between 2000 and 2010. A majority of the individuals with this surname identified as White, with a slight increase from 86.7% in 2000 to 90.65% in 2010. The number of those identifying their ethnicity as two or more races decreased significantly by 45.8%, going down from 10.11% to 5.48%. There was a new appearance of the Hispanic category in 2010, accounting for 3.87% that wasn't present in the previous census. Meanwhile, the percentages for Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native remained at zero in both years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	86.7%	90.65%	4.56%
Two or More Races	10.11%	5.48%	-45.8%
Hispanic	0%	3.87%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%