Malia
Malia was given to 872 girls in 2025, #349 among girls’ names; 31,606 Americans have been recorded with it since 1919 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 31,100 Americans named Malia and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 15 years old and half are between 8 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Malia by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Malia mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Malia is “a female given name from Hawaiian.” Its etymology gives the senses “Mary” (Malia) and “calm” (Mālia).
Borrowed from Hawaiian Malia (“Mary”) and in some cases from Mālia (“calm”).
/məˈliː.ə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Malia?
#349 among girls’ names, 2025
Malia fell from #315 in 2015 to #349 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.58 to 0.54 per 1,000.
1,700 babies in 2009, the peak
Malia peaked in 2009, when 1,700 girls were given it, #192 among girls’ names. The 872 births of 2025 are 51% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 872 | #349 | 0.54 |
| 2024 | 948 | #328 | 0.59 |
| 2023 | 1,146 | #274 | 0.71 |
| 2022 | 1,191 | #265 | 0.73 |
| 2021 | 1,204 | #256 | 0.73 |
| 2020 | 1,172 | #259 | 0.73 |
| 2019 | 1,264 | #262 | 0.75 |
| 2018 | 1,280 | #255 | 0.75 |
| 2017 | 1,429 | #216 | 0.83 |
| 2016 | 1,237 | #259 | 0.70 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,031 | #315 | 0.58 |
| 2014 | 955 | #348 | 0.53 |
| 2013 | 959 | #336 | 0.55 |
| 2012 | 899 | #353 | 0.51 |
| 2011 | 1,011 | #313 | 0.57 |
| 2010 | 1,075 | #301 | 0.60 |
| 2009 | 1,700 | #192 | 0.93 |
| 2008 | 968 | #344 | 0.51 |
| 2007 | 817 | #400 | 0.42 |
| 2006 | 784 | #406 | 0.41 |
| 2005 | 741 | #418 | 0.40 |
| 2004 | 681 | #449 | 0.37 |
| 2003 | 706 | #426 | 0.39 |
| 2002 | 682 | #428 | 0.38 |
| 2001 | 585 | #476 | 0.32 |
| 2000 | 541 | #499 | 0.30 |
| 1999 | 423 | #584 | 0.24 |
| 1998 | 353 | #654 | 0.20 |
| 1997 | 308 | #701 | 0.18 |
| 1996 | 269 | #780 | 0.15 |
| 1995 | 227 | #857 | 0.13 |
| 1994 | 190 | #975 | 0.11 |
| 1993 | 178 | #1,036 | 0.10 |
| 1992 | 189 | #999 | 0.10 |
| 1991 | 181 | #1,017 | 0.10 |
| 1990 | 159 | #1,099 | 0.08 |
| 1989 | 165 | #1,037 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 142 | #1,100 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 136 | #1,107 | 0.08 |
| 1986 | 108 | #1,257 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 130 | #1,115 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 146 | #991 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 151 | #970 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 164 | #920 | 0.10 |
| 1981 | 151 | #973 | 0.09 |
| 1980 | 149 | #992 | 0.09 |
| 1979 | 136 | #1,034 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 142 | #978 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 149 | #934 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 107 | #1,119 | 0.07 |
| 1975 | 94 | #1,224 | 0.06 |
| 1974 | 99 | #1,159 | 0.07 |
| 1973 | 77 | #1,323 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 91 | #1,186 | 0.06 |
| 1971 | 69 | #1,484 | 0.04 |
| 1970 | 63 | #1,553 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 64 | #1,473 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 44 | #1,798 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 56 | #1,503 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 41 | #1,785 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 57 | #1,477 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 37 | #1,964 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 43 | #1,776 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 47 | #1,662 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 28 | #2,278 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 32 | #2,039 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 22 | #2,490 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 33 | #1,926 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 59 | #1,384 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 68 | #1,264 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 88 | #1,078 | 0.05 |
| 1954 | 48 | #1,452 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 5 | #6,080 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,405 | under 0.01 |
| 1919 | 5 | #5,272 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Malia a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Malia has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 75 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Malia: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Malia, and how old are they?
31,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 31,606 Americans ever recorded as Malia. The median Malia alive today is 15 years old; half are between 8 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 23,945 people named Malia (23,888 women and girls, 57 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 25,029 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 423 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,350 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,610 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 12,200 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 14,600 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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 Malia born?
The states with the most babies named Malia are California, Texas and Florida, with 30% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 126 | #263 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 66 | #492 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 61 | #307 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 33 | #331 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 33 | #333 | 0.8× |
| New York | 32 | #526 | 0.7× |
| Virginia | 31 | #270 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 29 | #291 | 0.6× |
| Washington | 26 | #282 | 1.7× |
| Ohio | 26 | #441 | 0.8× |
Where Malia is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Malia is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1919 it was given 15.2 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 Malia with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 79,201 babies since 1880, Malia is the most given (40% of them). In 2025 it was given to 872 of their 2,127 babies (41%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Malia
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 Malia and names like it
- Compare Malia and MaliyahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sMalia peaked in 2009.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Malia since 1910.
- Hawaiian namesWiktionary’s origin for Malia: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2009The year the most babies were named Malia.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Malia alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with MMost given first.