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what about Melissa? rhymes with Alyssa (Alyssa Milano the actress). I love the name Melanie as well! Melody was a friend of mine a long time ago. Melody is more hippy sounding i think. reminds me of names like, Sunny and Autumn. Oh, and what about Melinda or Belinda? those are beautiful names as well!

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Melanie, Melody, Melinda and Melissa!!!!

I think they're fine... and much better than Sophia, Madison, Avy, Avery, etc. Would be refreshing to see little Melodys, Melanies and Valeries running around.

I think Valerie is pretty. I don't think Val is so bad, either. Melanie is okay, but it was quite popular here in the 70s and 80s and it's looking limp to me.
Melody seems ultra-ditzy to me, despite its history. It doesn't go with the other two; it's in a special box with Harmony and Cadence and Aria and Poem and other such names of dippiness.

I've never known either so they each seem pretty fresh in my mind. On second thought, Melody does remind me of "Josie and the Pussycats" so I suppose Melody is more dated to me. Both are nice. I'm partial to Melanie. Valerie seems most dated to me since I've known several (not too many but several).

Valerie could definitely be used. I love Melanie and Melody as well :)

I only know one adult with those names, a 17 yr old Valerie, 10 yr old Melanie, and 2 yr old Melany. I don't think they're dated.

I really like Melanie and Valerie but I don't really like the way Melody sounds.I don't think those names are too old to use.

I would add Margery and Mallory to the short list of Melody, Melanie, and Valerie. I agree with the pp that of the names you posted, Valerie is the one readiest for a comeback. Something about the trendiness of V's, W's, and Z's make it a likely contender, whereas the M names now seem to be dominated by surnames--Madison, and then the endless Mac and Mc surnames.

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I know one young woman named Melody, maybe 20 yrs old, so born around 1990, and frankly, at the time that choice of name always struck me as so corny. Natalie is a bit like Valerie, too. Never super popular, yet more elegant than the diminutives from the same era with the i or y ending, names like Patti and Susy.

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Even if they are not currently in wide usage, any of these names seem intrinsically more tasteful than the current onslaught of surnames as first names.

I think Melody could work nowadays. Word names are pretty popular right now (flower names etc.) and I think Melody could fit in easily.

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Melanie and Valerie still sound dated to me.

I think melanie's okay. i still don't like melody. it's too sweetsy for my tastes. i agree with you on valerie. i'm warming up to it again! i met a guy recently (from an eastern european country) whose name was valery. i think it might be pron. vah-LAIR-ee, though. either way, it was even cool for a guy. i also like the association with nature (valerian root) that valerie has.

Melody seems the most dated to me out of the three, but it's still usable. Melanie is a tad dated; I still think it's usable, though.

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Valerie actually seems the least dated to me. It definitely has life left in it. It sounds kind and energetic to me.

I think they are slightly dated, but not unusable. I like Melody and Valerie. I would probably only consider Valerie myself, though, just because I don't like Melody enough to use it. The problem with Valerie for me is that I don't care for Val, but I think it's very pretty in full.

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Melanie just doesn't appeal to me sound-wise. Which is odd, because it's close in sound to Melody. I guess the N just makes it a bit too nasal for me.