melissa

Melissa
Eastern honey bee
Pronunciation	Melissa
Gender	Female
Meaning	Honey bee
Region of Origin	Anatolia
Origin	Hittites
Related names	Melita, Mel, Melina, Melanie
Wikipedia articles	All pages beginning with "Melissa "
Footnotes: [1]

Look up Melissa in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Melissa is a given name for a female child. The origin of Melissa comes from the ancient Hittite word Melita which means honey. The meaning of the word has shifted into honey bee in Greek. Moreover, the pronunciation has changed to Melissa (Ionic Greek: Mέλισσα).

In Greek mythology, perhaps reflecting Minoan culture, Melissa raised the infant Zeus in Crete, nursing him with goat's-milk (see Amalthea) and honey. In later myth she was given a father, Melissus of Crete.

In 2007, Melissa was the 137th most popular name for girls born in the United States, dropping steadily from its peak of second place in 1977. It was among the top ten most popular names for girls from 1967 to 1984.^[2]

Melissa also refers to the plant known as lemon balm (family Lamiaceae; genus and species Melissa officinalis).

References

External links

• Baby names

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