Mafalda
Mafalda was last recorded in 1937, when 14 babies were given it; 1,279 Americans have been recorded with it between 1902 and 1937 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mafalda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mafalda mean?
Wiktionary, Portuguese section
Mafalda is “a female given name”
Originally a medieval Portuguese form of Matilda. This name was borne by the wife of Afonso, the first king of Portugal. Popularized as the name of the titular character of the Argentine comic strip by Quino.
/maˈfaw.dɐ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Portuguese section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mafalda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #2,265, in 1937; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
85 babies in 1925, the peak
Mafalda peaked in 1925, when 85 girls were given it, #803 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | 14 | #2,265 | 13.2 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,465 | 11.5 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,667 | 10.5 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,377 | 12.4 |
| 1933 | 15 | #2,111 | 14.9 |
| 1932 | 16 | #2,095 | 15.0 |
| 1931 | 30 | #1,361 | 28.2 |
| 1930 | 32 | #1,362 | 28.4 |
| 1929 | 39 | #1,208 | 34.9 |
| 1928 | 63 | #945 | 54.6 |
Every recorded year (31)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | 73 | #869 | 61.2 |
| 1926 | 69 | #898 | 58.2 |
| 1925 | 85 | #803 | 69.8 |
| 1924 | 71 | #899 | 56.9 |
| 1923 | 81 | #816 | 67.1 |
| 1922 | 66 | #902 | 55.0 |
| 1921 | 72 | #875 | 58.4 |
| 1920 | 55 | #1,001 | 45.9 |
| 1919 | 55 | #961 | 48.7 |
| 1918 | 61 | #920 | 52.7 |
| 1917 | 76 | #795 | 70.3 |
| 1916 | 54 | #933 | 51.7 |
| 1915 | 76 | #758 | 77.2 |
| 1914 | 43 | #896 | 56.5 |
| 1913 | 36 | #894 | 57.6 |
| 1912 | 23 | #1,101 | 41.2 |
| 1911 | 13 | #1,345 | 31.1 |
| 1910 | 7 | #2,050 | 17.7 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,696 | 23.0 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,317 | 15.0 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,943 | 18.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Mafalda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mafalda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 31 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Mafalda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mafalda, and how old are they?
An estimated 36 Americans named Mafalda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 550 people named Mafalda (546 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 122 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Mafalda born?
The states with the most babies named Mafalda are New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, with 79% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Massachusetts is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 331 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 230 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Massachusetts | 123 | not ranked | 2.7× |
| New Jersey | 105 | not ranked | 2.7× |
| Rhode Island | 36 | not ranked | 4.4× |
| Connecticut | 29 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 7 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Mafalda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Mafalda is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 2.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Mafalda with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Mafalda
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Mafalda and names like it
- Compare Mafalda and YoshikoBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sMafalda peaked in 1925.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mafalda since 1910.
- Portuguese namesWiktionary’s origin for Mafalda: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1925The year the most babies were named Mafalda.
- Names starting with MMost given first.