Amalia
Feminine · “work”
Amalia has been a court name and a kitchen name across half of Europe — Dutch, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Polish — spelled the same way in nearly all of them. It moves in four unhurried syllables, ah-MAH-lee-ah, with the stress landing on that open middle vowel. It shares a root with Amelia but has kept its own footing in English for generations.
How old is the name Amalia?
Amalia was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Amalia alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 13,500 people named Amalia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Amalia most popular?
Amalia peaked in 1885, reaching #484 nationally. Today it ranks #566, 82 places below that high. See the whole 1885 chart.
Amalia appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From amal (Old Germanic element, 'work') to Amalia
The story of Amalia
The building block is Old Germanic amal, 'work', which appears in a long line of early medieval names: Amalberga, Amalfrid, Amalasuntha. Latinized as Amalia, it became a favorite in German-speaking noble families and traveled with them by marriage — to the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, and to Greece in the nineteenth, when a Bavarian-born princess became the country's first queen. From German it passed easily into Italian, Spanish, Polish and Hungarian, which is why the same five letters work in so many places. It reached the United States with speakers of all of those languages, and has stayed in continuous use here ever since.
Meaning
work, labor
The source is the Germanic element amal, 'work' or 'effort', which also gave the Amali the name of their ruling house among the Ostrogoths. Amelia grew from the same root; Emily and Emilia did not — they come from the Roman family name Aemilius, and the resemblance is coincidence.
How the name formed
- amalOld Germanic element, 'work'
- Amalberga
- Amalia
- Amélie
- Amelia
Related forms: Amelia · Amélie · Amalie · Amália · Αμαλία · Amelia
Pronouncing Amalia
ah-MAH-lee-ah
That is the standard pronunciation in Spanish, Italian, German and Greek. English speakers who know Amelia first often reach for uh-MAYL-yuh instead, so expect to correct it now and then — both are heard in the US.
Nicknames for Amalia
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 2025530 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #484reached in 1885
- Change vs 2022
- +3.1%530 in 2025, from 514
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Amalia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Amelia in English — related form
- Amélie in French — related form
- Amalie in German, Danish — spelling variant
- Amália in Hungarian, Portuguese — spelling variant
- Αμαλία in Greek — transliteration
- Amelia in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Amalias among us
people named Amalia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,033 born in 2025 was named Amalia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Amalia sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Amalia is headed
Amalia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Amalia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Amalia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled identically in Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Dutch and Romanian, so it crosses borders and family languages without adjustment.
- Several short forms already in real use — Lia, Mia, Amy — none of them invented on the spot.
- Documented in Germanic Europe for well over a thousand years, and in continuous rather than fashionable use in the US.
- Immediately recognizable to English speakers through Amelia, so it never reads as unfamiliar even when it is unusual.
- Amelia is far better known in English, and Amalia will be heard and written as Amelia often enough that spelling it out becomes routine. It is a small tax, paid frequently.
- Two pronunciations circulate in the US — ah-MAH-lee-ah and uh-MAYL-yuh. Deciding early which one your family uses saves the child from arbitrating it at every new school.
- Four syllables is a lot of name for a short surname or a hurried roll call, and the nicknames will do real work. That is worth liking the sound of Lia or Mia in advance.
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What they receive
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Amalia
Feminine · #566 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Amalias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,500 people named Amalia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Amalia in 2025?
- Amalia ranks #566 among US girl names in 2025, with 530 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Amalia?
- About 1 in every 3,033 US girls born in 2025 was named Amalia — 530 in all.
- Will my child share the name Amalia with classmates?
- Amalia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Amalia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ivanna#566 · Makayla#566 · Nadia#565 · Izabella#564 · Allie#569 · Hadassah#569 · Della#563 · Armani#562
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Amalia? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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