Melville as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Melville

What is the meaning of the name Melville ?

The baby name Melville is a Male name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced /ˈmɛlvɪl/ (MEL-vil).

Melville is Norman French in Origin.

Melville is a Scottish surname-turned-given name of Norman French origin, taken from several places in Normandy called Malleville. The toponym combines Old French mal (“poor, harsh”) with ville (“settlement, estate”), yielding the sense “settlement on poor ground” or “badly sited town.” The name came to Scotland in the 12th century with the de Melville family, whose lands in Fife and Midlothian gave rise to the Lowland Clan Melville and the later Earls of Melville.

Used as a first name from the 18th-19th centuries, Melville followed the broader British-American fashion for adopting distinguished surnames, and its literary cachet was cemented by Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick. Spelling variants include Melvill, Melvile, and Melvil; the short form is Mel, and feminine elaborations like Melva appear by association. Though often grouped with Melvin/Melvyn, those have different etymology. Today Melville is rare, vintage, and quietly scholarly.