Malinda
Malinda was given to 59 girls in 2025, #2,881 among girls’ names; 21,464 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 15,700 Americans named Malinda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (73% of everyone recorded); the median is 53 years old and half are between 40 and 64.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Malinda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Malinda mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Malinda is “a female given name originating as a coinage, variant of Melinda.”
Variant of Melinda, used since the eighteenth century.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Malinda?
#2,881 among girls’ names, 2025
Malinda fell from #2,333 in 2015 to #2,881 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 44.8 to 36.7 per million.
460 babies in 1969, the peak
Malinda peaked in 1969, when 460 girls were given it, #447 among girls’ names. The 59 births of 2025 are 13% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 59 | #2,881 | 0.04 |
| 2024 | 58 | #2,880 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 76 | #2,390 | 0.05 |
| 2022 | 67 | #2,624 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 48 | #3,325 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 60 | #2,767 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 62 | #2,741 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 71 | #2,499 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 64 | #2,707 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 67 | #2,635 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 80 | #2,333 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 84 | #2,249 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 75 | #2,425 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 59 | #2,926 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 55 | #3,080 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 70 | #2,604 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 97 | #2,098 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 83 | #2,348 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 83 | #2,323 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 97 | #2,045 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 80 | #2,271 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 90 | #2,033 | 0.05 |
| 2003 | 89 | #2,027 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 108 | #1,703 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 108 | #1,678 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 111 | #1,594 | 0.06 |
| 1999 | 80 | #1,969 | 0.05 |
| 1998 | 92 | #1,725 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 113 | #1,459 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 95 | #1,619 | 0.05 |
| 1995 | 119 | #1,383 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 127 | #1,331 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 132 | #1,284 | 0.07 |
| 1992 | 152 | #1,160 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 154 | #1,148 | 0.08 |
| 1990 | 187 | #985 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 167 | #1,024 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 196 | #895 | 0.11 |
| 1987 | 210 | #834 | 0.12 |
| 1986 | 200 | #833 | 0.12 |
| 1985 | 212 | #791 | 0.12 |
| 1984 | 261 | #666 | 0.16 |
| 1983 | 243 | #704 | 0.15 |
| 1982 | 292 | #617 | 0.17 |
| 1981 | 322 | #577 | 0.19 |
| 1980 | 355 | #533 | 0.21 |
| 1979 | 404 | #500 | 0.25 |
| 1978 | 440 | #454 | 0.29 |
| 1977 | 364 | #511 | 0.24 |
| 1976 | 382 | #482 | 0.26 |
| 1975 | 353 | #507 | 0.24 |
| 1974 | 399 | #455 | 0.27 |
| 1973 | 459 | #427 | 0.31 |
| 1972 | 419 | #449 | 0.28 |
| 1971 | 427 | #468 | 0.26 |
| 1970 | 453 | #463 | 0.26 |
| 1969 | 460 | #447 | 0.27 |
| 1968 | 388 | #494 | 0.24 |
| 1967 | 334 | #519 | 0.20 |
| 1966 | 309 | #537 | 0.18 |
| 1965 | 372 | #494 | 0.21 |
| 1964 | 340 | #533 | 0.18 |
| 1963 | 338 | #529 | 0.18 |
| 1962 | 357 | #518 | 0.18 |
| 1961 | 330 | #544 | 0.16 |
| 1960 | 316 | #547 | 0.16 |
| 1959 | 387 | #496 | 0.19 |
| 1958 | 366 | #501 | 0.18 |
| 1957 | 328 | #528 | 0.16 |
| 1956 | 306 | #532 | 0.15 |
| 1955 | 263 | #561 | 0.13 |
| 1954 | 235 | #590 | 0.12 |
| 1953 | 226 | #591 | 0.12 |
| 1952 | 210 | #599 | 0.11 |
| 1951 | 212 | #592 | 0.12 |
| 1950 | 224 | #554 | 0.13 |
| 1949 | 227 | #553 | 0.13 |
| 1948 | 165 | #649 | 0.10 |
| 1947 | 183 | #623 | 0.10 |
| 1946 | 158 | #628 | 0.10 |
| 1945 | 128 | #650 | 0.10 |
| 1944 | 121 | #677 | 0.09 |
| 1943 | 121 | #692 | 0.09 |
| 1942 | 131 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1941 | 97 | #716 | 0.08 |
| 1940 | 102 | #690 | 0.09 |
| 1939 | 74 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 69 | #854 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 70 | #822 | 0.07 |
| 1936 | 55 | #926 | 0.05 |
| 1935 | 42 | #1,081 | 0.04 |
| 1934 | 55 | #931 | 0.05 |
| 1933 | 51 | #965 | 0.05 |
| 1932 | 49 | #1,010 | 0.05 |
| 1931 | 51 | #981 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 46 | #1,096 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 53 | #997 | 0.05 |
| 1928 | 66 | #911 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 73 | #870 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 70 | #891 | 0.06 |
| 1925 | 81 | #831 | 0.07 |
| 1924 | 70 | #911 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 90 | #771 | 0.07 |
| 1922 | 87 | #783 | 0.07 |
| 1921 | 82 | #809 | 0.07 |
| 1920 | 117 | #674 | 0.10 |
| 1919 | 102 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1918 | 118 | #650 | 0.10 |
| 1917 | 90 | #741 | 0.08 |
| 1916 | 109 | #652 | 0.10 |
| 1915 | 113 | #620 | 0.11 |
| 1914 | 86 | #622 | 0.11 |
| 1913 | 84 | #559 | 0.13 |
| 1912 | 85 | #527 | 0.15 |
| 1911 | 58 | #561 | 0.14 |
| 1910 | 48 | #607 | 0.12 |
| 1909 | 49 | #550 | 0.14 |
| 1908 | 56 | #484 | 0.17 |
| 1907 | 66 | #442 | 0.21 |
| 1906 | 69 | #412 | 0.23 |
| 1905 | 60 | #434 | 0.21 |
| 1904 | 52 | #455 | 0.19 |
| 1903 | 58 | #417 | 0.22 |
| 1902 | 72 | #375 | 0.27 |
| 1901 | 38 | #494 | 0.16 |
| 1900 | 81 | #373 | 0.27 |
| 1899 | 59 | #379 | 0.25 |
| 1898 | 69 | #376 | 0.27 |
| 1897 | 66 | #363 | 0.28 |
| 1896 | 52 | #394 | 0.22 |
| 1895 | 60 | #364 | 0.26 |
| 1894 | 62 | #354 | 0.28 |
| 1893 | 40 | #430 | 0.19 |
| 1892 | 53 | #367 | 0.25 |
| 1891 | 67 | #308 | 0.36 |
| 1890 | 62 | #323 | 0.33 |
| 1889 | 44 | #365 | 0.25 |
| 1888 | 73 | #271 | 0.41 |
| 1887 | 50 | #305 | 0.34 |
| 1886 | 53 | #284 | 0.37 |
| 1885 | 45 | #298 | 0.34 |
| 1884 | 55 | #264 | 0.43 |
| 1883 | 47 | #266 | 0.42 |
| 1882 | 43 | #267 | 0.40 |
| 1881 | 40 | #254 | 0.44 |
| 1880 | 35 | #263 | 0.38 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Malinda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Malinda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 146 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Malinda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Malinda, and how old are they?
15,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 73% of the 21,464 Americans ever recorded as Malinda. The median Malinda alive today is 53 years old; half are between 40 and 64.
The 2020 Census counted 14,520 people named Malinda (14,489 women and girls, 31 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 16,123 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 492 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,100 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,870 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,980 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,400 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 866 |
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 Malinda born?
The states with the most babies named Malinda are Pennsylvania, Ohio and California, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 1,778 | #588 | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 1,360 | #1,378 | 1.4× |
| California | 1,158 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 925 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Indiana | 764 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 647 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 620 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Alabama | 599 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Georgia | 598 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 536 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Malinda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Malinda is most over-represented in Pennsylvania: since 1910 it was given 1.6 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 Malinda 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 22,379 babies since 1880, Malinda is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 59 of their 66 babies (89%), 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 Malinda
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 Malinda and names like it
- Compare Malinda and MalyndaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sMalinda peaked in 1969.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Malinda since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Malinda: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1969The year the most babies were named Malinda.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Malinda alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with MMost given first.