Melvin

See also: melvin

English

Etymology

Variant of the Scottish surname Melville, from a place name Malleville in Normandy, from Latin mala (“bad”) + Old French ville (“settlement”).

• Used to Anglicize Mac Gille Beathain in Scotland and Ó Maoil Mhín in Ireland.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛlvɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɛlvɪn

Proper noun

Melvin

1. A surname from Old French.
   • 1824 Thomas M'Crie, The Life of Andrew Melville, W. Blackwood (1824), page 416:

     Melville always wrote his name Melvinus in Latin, and he is often called Melvin in English. Hence some have concluded that Melvin, and not Melville, was his proper name. But they are merely different modes of pronouncing the same family appellation.

2. A male given name transferred from the surname.
   • 1976, Melvin Belli, My Life on Trial: An Autobiography, Morrow, →ISBN, page 21:

     And for some reason, they called me Pete. My mother, who probably dug up the name Melvin from some romantic novel about Englishmen drinking tea, cringed at the "Pete".

   • 2007 August 21, Kareem Fahim, “Presidential Candidate Blames Killings on Newark Sanctuary Policy”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 August 2019:

     On Monday, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency placed a similar detainer on Melvin Jovel, 18, who on Sunday was the sixth person to be arrested in the case.

3. A number of places in the United States:
   1. An unincorporated community in Choctaw County, Alabama.
   2. A former unincorporated community in Fresno County, California, now incorporated into Clovis.
   3. A village in Ford County, Illinois.
   4. A minor city in Osceola County, Iowa.
   5. An unincorporated community and coal town in Floyd County, Kentucky.
   6. A village in Speaker Township, Sanilac County, Michigan.
   7. An unincorporated community in Richland Township, Clinton County, Ohio.
   8. A ghost town in Custer County, South Dakota.
   9. A town in McCulloch County, Texas.

Derived terms

• Melvin Village

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Melvin.

Proper noun

Melvin

1. a male given name from English [in turn from Old French, in turn from Latin]

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English Melvin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmelbin/ [ˈmel.β̞ĩn]
• Rhymes: -elbin
• Syllabification: Mel‧vin

Proper noun

Melvin m

1. a male given name

Swedish

Etymology

Recently borrowed from English Melvin.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Melvin c (genitive Melvins)

1. a male given name

Usage notes

• Popular in Sweden in the 2000s.