Malea
A feminine given name of Hawaiian origin meaning "calm".
Name Census estimates that about 2,425 living Americans carry the first name Malea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Malea today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malea births was 2009 (100 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malea. 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 Malea with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 141,342 Americans
Peak year
2009
100 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,244
Tracked since 1954
Census
Malea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,129 people with the first name Malea, which placed it at #7,235 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
#7,235
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,129 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malea is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and Two or More Races (13.9%). 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 Malea 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 Malea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.1% · 1,151
- Black or African American16.1% · 342
- Two or more races13.9% · 296
- Hispanic or Latino10.1% · 215
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 95
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 30
Popularity
Malea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malea from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 831 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malea 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 Malea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maleas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, Ohio, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Malea, while Utah, New York, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Malea
The name Malea has its origins in Greek culture, derived from the Greek word "maleia," which means "calm" or "tranquil." It is believed to have originated in ancient times, possibly dating back to the classical period of Greece.
Malea was a name associated with the Greek island of Cythera, located in the Aegean Sea. The island's southern cape was known as Cape Malea, a treacherous and challenging passage for sailors during ancient times. It's possible that the name Malea was given to children as a wish for a calm and peaceful life, in contrast to the tumultuous waters of the cape.
In Greek mythology, there are references to a nymph named Malea, who was one of the companions of the goddess Artemis. This association with a mythological figure may have contributed to the name's popularity and significance in ancient Greek culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Malea can be found in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. He mentioned a woman named Malea in his accounts of the Persian Wars.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Malea. One example is Malea of Lesbos, a renowned Greek lyric poet who lived in the 7th century BC. Her works, though fragmentary, were highly regarded in antiquity.
Another significant figure was Malea of Chios, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 5th century BC. She was a student of the renowned philosopher Pythagoras and is credited with contributing to the development of mathematics and geometry.
In the 4th century BC, there was a Greek woman named Malea who was a renowned artist and sculptor. Her sculptures were highly praised for their beauty and attention to detail, and some of her works were displayed in the ancient city of Delphi.
During the Byzantine era, Malea was the name of a notable empress who ruled alongside her husband, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, in the early 14th century. She played an influential role in the political and cultural affairs of the Byzantine Empire.
In more recent times, Malea was the name of a renowned Greek opera singer who performed in the early 20th century. Born in 1885, she gained recognition for her powerful vocal range and captivating performances on the international stage.
People
Malea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malea 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
Malea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,425 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malea 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 141,342 US residents.
Is Malea a common name?
We classify Malea as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,519 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malea most popular?
The single biggest year for Malea was 2009, when 100 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malea is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Malea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,129 people with the name Malea, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,235 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 Malea 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 Malea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malea leans strongly female. 2,099 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 31 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Malea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malea is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and Two or More Races (13.9%). 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 Malea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Malea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.1% (1,151 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 Malea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Malea 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 Malea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malea 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 Malea 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 Malea?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.