Head to head · Girls' names
Malia vs Maryam
#349 vs #351 in 2025
Malia is a whisker ahead (#349 vs #351 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Malia is stepping back from its peak, Maryam is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Maryam has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Malia leads 5 measures of 6; Maryam leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Malia #4814, Maryam — — Malia higher
- 1940s: Malia #4960, Maryam #4480 — Maryam higher
- 1950s: Malia #2155, Maryam — — Malia higher
- 1960s: Malia #1758, Maryam #4598 — Malia higher
- 1970s: Malia #1194, Maryam #2935 — Malia higher
- 1980s: Malia #1044, Maryam #1895 — Malia higher
- 1990s: Malia #870, Maryam #1434 — Malia higher
- 2000s: Malia #403, Maryam #988 — Malia higher
- 2010s: Malia #296, Maryam #620 — Malia higher
- 2020s: Malia #288, Maryam #440 — Malia higher
Malia stood higher in 9 of 10 decades; Malia has held the lead since the 1950s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Malia | Maryam |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4814 | — |
| 1940s | #4960 | #4480 |
| 1950s | #2155 | — |
| 1960s | #1758 | #4598 |
| 1970s | #1194 | #2935 |
| 1980s | #1044 | #1895 |
| 1990s | #870 | #1434 |
| 2000s | #403 | #988 |
| 2010s | #296 | #620 |
| 2020s | #288 | #440 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Malia
Not charting outside the US.
Maryam
- England & Wales#57
- France#79
- Canada#88
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Malia
Hawaiian and Samoan form of Maria, from Hebrew Miryam
The Maria/Miriam line is certain; what Miryam itself meant is not. The oldest readings compete: a Hebrew root suggesting 'bitter', and an Egyptian element mry, 'beloved'. The familiar 'star of the sea' and 'drop of the sea' come later, from Latin glosses on the name rather than from its origin.
Miryam → Maria → Malia
How it traveled
When Protestant missionaries put Hawaiian into writing in the early nineteenth century, they worked with a short alphabet: no r, no s. Maria, the name of the mother of Jesus, came out of that process as Malia, and it entered Hawaiian usage as a plain and ordinary Christian name.
Maryam
most often read as 'bitter' or 'beloved' — the underlying Hebrew name has never been fully resolved
Maryam goes back to Hebrew Miryam, and scholars have argued for several readings: 'bitter' or 'bitterness' from the root mar, 'rebellion' from marah, and 'beloved' from the Egyptian element mry, which fits a name that first appears in the Exodus narrative in an Egyptian setting. The medieval Latin gloss 'star of the sea' comes from a later misreading and is not an etymology. Separately, in Persian maryam is the word for the tuberose flower.
Miryam → Mariam → Maryam → Maria → Mary
How it traveled
The name begins as Hebrew Miryam, borne in the Torah by the sister of Moses and Aaron. Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible rendered it Mariam, and from there it passed into Latin as Maria and into the Christian world in dozens of shapes.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Malia
muh-LEE-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. In Hawaiian the first vowel is fuller: mah-LEE-ah. Both are correct and both are understood.
- Mali — The most direct short form, used at home and among friends; also spelled Mahlee by some families.
- Lia — Taken from the back of the name; stands alone as a given name in its own right in Italian and German usage.
- Mia — An informal reshaping rather than a true clipping; independently one of the common given names of recent decades.
- Mal — A one-syllable school-and-teammates nickname, used more by peers than by family.
Maryam
MAR-yam
Two syllables in most Arabic and Persian speech, with the stress up front: MAR-yam. Many American families say a fuller three-syllable MAH-ree-am, and some use ma-RYAM. All are in genuine use — worth deciding early which one your family will give as the answer.
- Mary — The English cousin of the same name, used as an informal short form and long established as a given name in its own right.
- Mari — A clipped everyday form; also a standalone given name in Welsh and Scandinavian use.
- Mimi — Informal and affectionate, common within families rather than on documents.
- Maya — Used loosely as a nickname in some families, though it is a separate name with its own history.
- Also Mimo.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Malia if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMalia is stepping back from its peak
Choose Maryam if you want…
- a name on the way upup 155 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooMaryam is on the national lists of England & Wales, France and Canada
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Malia
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, so the name survives a phone call, a roll call and a coffee order without much explanation.
- Belongs fully to two traditions at once — Hawaiian and Samoan Christian usage, and the wider Maria family behind them.
- Carries a genuine line back through Maria to Miryam, one of the longest continuously used names on record.
To consider
- The sound is settled but the spelling is not: Maliyah, Maleah, Maliah and Maliya all exist, so expect to confirm which one you mean fairly often.
- For many Americans the name still points first to Malia Obama. That association is warm and will fade with time, but it is present now.
- It sits close to Mila, Maya, Amelia and Maria in the ear, and one of those will occasionally be what people hear the first time.
Maryam
Strengths
- Read and recognized across Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, Hebrew and English-speaking communities, which makes it a name that travels without needing translation.
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, so it survives a phone call better than most names of this length.
- Belongs to one of the oldest continuously recorded name families in the world, with a written trail from the Hebrew Bible to now.
To consider
- Maryam, Mariam, Miriam and Marium are all in real circulation, and people will guess wrong. Expect to spell it often, and to correct autocorrect.
- The stress varies genuinely between communities — MAR-yam and MAH-ree-am are both correct for different families. Teachers and new acquaintances will need one clear model to copy.
- The religious weight is real and public: for Muslim and Christian readers alike, the name arrives already attached to a well-known figure. Many families choose it precisely for that; it is worth knowing it is not a neutral choice.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Malia and Maryam in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Malia and Maryam?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Under the radar: quietly excellent picks
- Hawaiian names full of ocean light
- Names ending in -ia
- France's favorites still rare in America
- all guides
Where Malia and Maryam each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Malia or Maryam — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Malia or Maryam?
- Malia, in 2025: Malia ranked #349 with 872 babies; Maryam ranked #351 with 869 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Malia or Maryam?
- Maryam. Over the last five years Malia moved down 90 places; Maryam moved up 155 places.
- Which is the older name, Malia or Maryam?
- Malia entered the US charts in 1919; Maryam entered the US charts in 1946. On the American record, Malia is the older name.
- How many people are named Malia and Maryam?
- About 31,000 people named Malia are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,500 people named Maryam are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Malias or Maryams in the classroom?
- Malia will almost certainly be the only one in school. Maryam will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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