Meaning and background
The story behind Mella
Mella appears in both Spanish and Italian surname history, but the derivations differ. Spanish examples may originate in Galician or Basque places called La Mella, while one Italian route comes from shortened personal names such as Giacomella. It is therefore misleading to advertise one literal meaning for all uses. As a pet name its open ending is gentle to say; the stronger claim is that it has several real naming backgrounds.
- Origin
- Surname with distinct Spanish and Italian routes: Spanish habitational from places named (La) Mella in Galicia or Biscay, or Italian shortened form of names ending in -mella. Source
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Everyday moments“Mella, come here!”
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About Mella
Recorded as a dog’s name
Mella appears in 3 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/mɛlə/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/mɛlə/ · primary stress on syllable 1M EH1 L AH0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.