Malarie
A feminine French name meaning "unhealthy air" or "marshy place".
Name Census estimates that about 748 living Americans carry the first name Malarie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Malarie today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malarie births was 1987 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malarie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
748
~ 1 in 458,228 Americans
Peak year
1987
51 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2020 SSA rank
#14,469
Tracked since 1976
Census
Malarie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 671 people with the first name Malarie, which placed it at #16,695 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,695
National first-name rank
People counted
671
671 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malarie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malarie is White at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and Black (11.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Malarie described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Malarie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.0% · 443
- Hispanic or Latino15.6% · 105
- Black or African American11.8% · 79
- Two or more races3.0% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 7
Popularity
Malarie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malarie from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 258 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malarie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Malarie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Malaries live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Malarie, while Utah, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Malarie
The name Malarie is a modern variation of the ancient name Malaria, which has its roots in the Latin language. The word "malaria" literally translates to "bad air," reflecting the historical belief that the disease malaria was caused by inhaling foul, miasmatic air from swamps and marshes.
Malaria was first documented in ancient Greek writings, with descriptions of its symptoms and cyclical fevers appearing in the works of Hippocrates and other influential medical writers of the time. The name itself, however, did not come into widespread use until the late Middle Ages, when the term "malaria" was coined by Italian physicians to describe the debilitating illness that plagued many parts of Europe.
The earliest recorded instance of Malarie as a given name dates back to the 16th century, when it was used as a symbolic representation of the struggle against the malaria disease. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Malarie Benedetti, an Italian nun born in 1532, who dedicated her life to caring for those afflicted by the illness.
In the 18th century, Malarie gained some popularity as a name, particularly among families affected by the disease. Notable figures from this period include Malarie Fontanelli (1701-1779), an Italian physician who made significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of malaria, and Malarie Delacroix (1723-1804), a French artist whose works often depicted the harsh realities of life in malaria-stricken regions.
As the 19th century dawned, the name Malarie took on a more romanticized connotation, symbolizing resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Malarie Nightingale (1820-1910), the celebrated British nurse and social reformer, whose pioneering work during the Crimean War and advocacy for improved healthcare standards earned her international acclaim.
Other notable figures with the name Malarie include Malarie Curie (1867-1934), the renowned Polish-born physicist and chemist, who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win the prestigious award twice. Malarie Sachet (1884-1968), a French activist and suffragette, also bore this name, which she embraced as a symbol of her tireless fight for women's rights and gender equality.
While the name Malarie has largely fallen out of favor in modern times, its historical significance remains a testament to the enduring human spirit and the ongoing battle against disease and adversity.
People
Malarie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malarie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Malarie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malarie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 748 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malarie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 458,228 US residents.
Is Malarie a common name?
We classify Malarie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 773 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malarie most popular?
The single biggest year for Malarie was 1987, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malarie is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Malarie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 671 people with the name Malarie, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,695 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Malarie in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Malarie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malarie appears almost entirely female. Of the 674 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Malarie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malarie is White at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and Black (11.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Malarie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Malarie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.0% (443 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Malarie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malarie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Malarie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Malarie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malarie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Malarie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Malarie?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Malarie at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.