Mailen
Feminine · “Young woman”
Mailén is a Mapuche name — from the people of southern Chile and Argentina — and it means a young woman or a maiden. It is one of the very few indigenous South American names to reach the American birth records, and its peak is 2023.
How old is the name Mailen?
Mailen first appears in US birth records in 2007 — 18 years ago. The typical Mailen is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Mailen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mailen most popular?
Mailen peaked in 2023, reaching #1699 nationally. Today it ranks #5410, 3,711 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From malen to Mailen
The story of Mailen
The Mapuche resisted Spanish conquest for three centuries and were not brought under Chilean and Argentine control until the 1880s; their language, Mapudungun, is still spoken by hundreds of thousands. Mapuche names came into general Argentine and Chilean use in the twentieth century as part of a broader reclaiming of indigenous vocabulary — Nahuel, Ailén, Rayén, Mailén and Lihuen are all in ordinary use in Argentina today. The name reaches American records recently, with Argentine, Chilean and separately Cuban families, and its peak in 2023 makes it one of the newest entries in the whole ranked list.
Meaningscholars disagree
Young woman, maiden
Mapudungun malen or malén means a young woman or girl, and Mailén is the usual Spanish spelling of it as a name; that reading is standard in Argentine and Chilean usage. Some sources instead give princess, which is a translation into a European social category the Mapuche did not use. A separate Cuban Mailén, apparently a modern blend, is also in circulation.
How the name formed
- malen
- Mailén
Related forms: Malen · Mailén
Pronouncing Mailen
my-LEN
Two syllables, stress on the second, marked by the accent in Spanish. American records drop the accent, which moves the stress forward for English readers to MAY-len.
Nicknames for Mailen
Moderate
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
- 2007
- Most girls named
- 2023121 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1699reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −50.0%23 in 2025, from 46
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.
Mailen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Malen in Mapudungun — related form
- Mailén in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Mailens among us
people named Mailen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 69,881 born in 2025 was named Mailen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mailen
- #5410
- Mailen on the 2025 chart
- #886
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mailen went to 23 girls in 2025, but Mayleen, Maileen and Maylen are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 74, which makes it the 886th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,524 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 21,720 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 69,881 for Mailen itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Terah test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mailen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Terah climbed just as high around 1983, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Terah's path sketches the road Mailen is walking now.
Mailen 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
Mailen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mailen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a genuine indigenous South American name with a documented language behind it.
- Two syllables and six letters keep it compact.
- Every sound in it exists in English.
- American records drop the accent and the stress moves with it.
- The common gloss princess translates the word into a category the Mapuche did not have.
- It is unfamiliar in the United States and will be spelled out.
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What they receive
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Mailen
Feminine · #5410 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mailens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Mailen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mailen?
- Mailen is one of 4 recorded spellings. Mayleen is the more common one — 25 births in 2025 against 23 for Mailen.
- How popular is the name Mailen in 2025?
- Mailen ranks #5410 among US girl names in 2025, with 23 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mailen?
- About 1 in every 69,881 US girls born in 2025 was named Mailen — 23 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mailen with classmates?
- Mailen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mailen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aina#5410 · Sherry#5410 · Kathia#5410 · Taj#5410 · Analicia#5410 · Divya#5410 · Halimah#5410 · Leo#5410
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mailen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mailen and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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