Malayah
An Arabic name meaning "elevated" or "high place".
Name Census estimates that about 4,110 living Americans carry the first name Malayah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Malayah today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malayah births was 2022 (333 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malayah. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Malayah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Malayah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 83,395 Americans
Peak year
2022
333 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,070
Tracked since 1994
Census
Malayah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,992 people with the first name Malayah, which placed it at #7,599 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
#7,599
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
1,992 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
66.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malayah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malayah is Black at 66.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.2%) and Hispanic (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 Malayah 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 Malayah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American66.6% · 1,327
- Two or more races12.2% · 244
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 236
- White7.0% · 140
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 19
Popularity
Malayah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malayah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,115 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Malayah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malayah 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 Malayah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Malayahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Malayah, while New Mexico, Arkansas, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 110 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Malayah
The name Malayah has its origins in the Malay language, spoken primarily in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and parts of Thailand. The name is derived from the word "Malay," which refers to the ethnic Malay people and their language. It is believed to have emerged as a given name sometime in the 15th or 16th century, during the height of the Malacca Sultanate in modern-day Malaysia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Malayah can be found in the "Sejarah Melayu" (Malay Annals), a literary work dating back to the 16th century that chronicles the history and folklore of the Malay Archipelago. In this text, the name is mentioned in reference to a female character, although the specific details surrounding her are unclear.
Throughout history, the name Malayah has been borne by several notable individuals. One such person was Malayah binti Ismail, a 17th-century Malay princess and daughter of Sultan Ismail Syah of Johor. She played a significant role in the political affairs of the Johor Sultanate during her lifetime.
Another famous bearer of the name was Malayah Syahidah, a 19th-century Malay poet and writer from the island of Java, now part of Indonesia. Her works, which focused on themes of love, spirituality, and social commentary, were widely celebrated during her time and continue to be studied today.
In the early 20th century, Malayah Zainal was a prominent Malay educator and advocate for women's rights in British Malaya (now Malaysia). Born in 1902, she established several schools and organizations dedicated to promoting education and empowerment for Malay women.
More recently, Malayah Mohd Yasin (born 1935) was a renowned Malay artist and sculptor, known for her intricate woodcarvings and depictions of Malay culture and traditions. Her works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums throughout Malaysia and internationally.
While the name Malayah has deep roots in the Malay culture and language, it has also been adopted by individuals of various ethnic backgrounds, particularly in regions with significant Malay populations or influences. However, its historical significance and connection to the Malay world remain an integral part of its meaning and heritage.
People
Malayah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malayah 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
Malayah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malayah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,110 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malayah 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 83,395 US residents.
Is Malayah a common name?
We classify Malayah as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,142 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malayah most popular?
The single biggest year for Malayah was 2022, when 333 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malayah is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Malayah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,992 people with the name Malayah, or 0.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,599 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 Malayah 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 Malayah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malayah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,993 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Malayah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malayah is Black at 66.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.2%) and Hispanic (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 Malayah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Malayah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.6% (1,327 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 Malayah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malayah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Malayah 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 Malayah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malayah 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 Malayah 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 called Malayah?
Find out how many Americans are named Malayah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.