Makalah
Feminine
Makalah sits between a biblical name and a family of American builds, and the record cannot place it in either. The surname that supplies road surfaces to the English language belongs to a man who would not have recognized the material named after him.
How old is the name Makalah?
Makalah first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Makalah alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 600 people named Makalah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Makalah most popular?
Makalah peaked in 2005, reaching #1803 nationally. See the whole 2005 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Makalah
John Loudon McAdam's road-building method had no tar in it. His contribution, worked out while he was a road surveyor in Scotland and then in Bristol, was a graded surface of small broken stones laid on a raised, well-drained bed, compacted by the traffic itself — the drainage and the stone size were the whole point, and the roads were cheap because they used no large foundation blocks. Macadam became the word for the surface. Tar came in much later, once motor cars began sucking the dust off the roads, and a patented tar-bound version was registered as Tarmac, a trade name that has since swallowed the original word in ordinary British speech. So an airport tarmac is named after a man who built roads without any.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The sound is shared by a Hebrew name from the book of Numbers and by a large group of American spellings built on the Mc- and Ma- fronts. This form belongs to the group rather than to the Hebrew name, and no source glosses it.
Pronouncing Makalah
muh-KAY-luh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The final h is silent and is the commonest American device for marking a name as chosen.
Nicknames for Makalah
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
- 1993
- Most girls named
- 2005108 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1803reached in 2005
- Change vs 2017
- −16.7%5 in 2018, from 6
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.
Makalahs among us
people named Makalah are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Makalah sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Middle stress on three syllables is the easiest rhythm English offers.
- The sound is entirely familiar, so nobody has to be taught it.
- Both cuts produce usable short forms.
- Makayla, Michaela and Mikayla are all far commoner and will be written for it.
- The final letter is silent, so the spelling must be given aloud every time.
- The record cannot say whether a Hebrew name lies behind it.
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Makalah
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Makalahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Makalah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Makalah in 2025?
- Makalah is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Makalah with classmates?
- Makalah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Makalah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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