Maliah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "my angel".
Name Census estimates that about 5,221 living Americans carry the first name Maliah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maliah today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maliah births was 2009 (356 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maliah. 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 Maliah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Maliah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
5.2K
~ 1 in 65,649 Americans
Peak year
2009
356 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,674
Tracked since 1991
Census
Maliah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,435 people with the first name Maliah, which placed it at #5,106 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
#5,106
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,435 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
45.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maliah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maliah is Black at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.7%) and White (15.6%). 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 Maliah 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 Maliah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American45.5% · 1,563
- Hispanic or Latino21.7% · 745
- White15.6% · 535
- Two or more races13.3% · 456
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 82
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 54
Popularity
Maliah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maliah 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 2,921 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Maliah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maliah 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 Maliah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maliahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Maliah, while Utah, New Mexico, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 108 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maliah
The name Maliah is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language, derived from the word "malak," which means "angel" or "messenger of God." This name is thought to have emerged during the early Islamic period, around the 7th century AD, in the regions of the Middle East and North Africa.
In Arabic culture, names often hold deep spiritual and religious significance, and Maliah is no exception. The name is associated with divine grace, purity, and protection, reflecting the belief that angels are celestial beings tasked with delivering messages from God and guarding over humanity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maliah can be found in historical texts from the 9th century, where it was mentioned as the name of a female scholar and poet from the city of Baghdad. This scholar, known as Maliah al-Baghdadiyah, was renowned for her contributions to Arabic literature and her mastery of various poetic forms.
Throughout the centuries, the name Maliah has been borne by several notable figures across various cultures and regions. In the 12th century, there was a celebrated Sufi mystic from Persia named Maliah al-Rumi, who was known for her profound spiritual teachings and her devotion to the path of love and unity.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Maliah al-Chalabi was a prominent Syrian writer and activist who played a significant role in the Arab Renaissance movement. Her works focused on advocating for women's rights and promoting educational reforms in the region.
In more recent times, Maliah Dunn, an American actress born in 1968, has gained recognition for her roles in television series and films, including "The Sopranos" and "The 24th Day."
Another notable figure is Maliah Michel, a French-Moroccan fashion designer born in 1976, who has made a name for herself in the world of haute couture, blending traditional Moroccan influences with contemporary design elements.
While the name Maliah has its roots in Arabic culture, it has transcended geographical boundaries and has been adopted by various communities around the world, each infusing it with their own cultural interpretations and meanings.
People
Maliah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maliah 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
Maliah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maliah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,221 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maliah 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 65,649 US residents.
Is Maliah a common name?
We classify Maliah as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,270 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maliah most popular?
The single biggest year for Maliah was 2009, when 356 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maliah is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maliah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,435 people with the name Maliah, or 1.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,106 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 Maliah 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 Maliah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maliah appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,429 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Maliah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maliah is Black at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.7%) and White (15.6%). 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 Maliah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Maliah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.5% (1,563 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 Maliah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maliah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maliah 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 Maliah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maliah 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 Maliah 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 have Maliah as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.