Malea
Feminine · “the Hawaiian form of Maria”
Malea sits at the end of one of the most elegant sound changes in the history of naming. Hawaiian has no r and no s, so when the Bible was translated into Hawaiian in the nineteenth century, Maria became Malia — every sound substituted according to a rule, nothing lost. Malea is the American spelling of that name, and it reached its highest use in the early 2000s.
How old is the name Malea?
Malea first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Malea alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 2,500 people named Malea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Malea most popular?
Malea peaked in 2003, reaching #2001 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 3,721 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Miryam to Malea
The story of Malea
American Protestant missionaries reached Hawaii in 1820 and set about writing the language down; the Hawaiian Bible was completed in 1839. Hawaiian has eight consonants, and neither r nor s is among them, so the translators substituted systematically: Maria became Malia, Jesus became Iesu, Joseph became Iosepa. Those forms became ordinary Hawaiian names and stayed. Malia spread beyond Hawaii through the twentieth century, and rose sharply on the American mainland after 2008. Malea, Maleah and Maliyah are mainland respellings of the same sound, and they divide it between them.
Meaningscholars disagree
the Hawaiian form of Maria — Mary
The Hawaiian route is well documented: Malia is Maria rendered through Hawaiian phonology, and it carries whatever Maria carries — a Hebrew name, Miryam, whose own meaning has never been settled, with 'bitter', 'beloved' and 'drop of the sea' all proposed and none proven. What is contested is whether this particular spelling descends from Malia at all. Malea is also simply Malia respelled by ear, and it looks equally like a Spanish or Italian formation. The Hawaiian reading is the most likely and not the only one.
How the name formed
- Miryam
- Maria
- Malia
- Malea
Related forms: Malia · Maria · Maleah · Malia
Pronouncing Malea
mah-LAY-ah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Two vowel readings circulate for that middle syllable: mah-LAY-ah and mah-LEE-ah, the second being closer to Hawaiian Malia. Both are common in American use and the spelling does not decide between them.
Nicknames for Malea
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
- 1954
- Most girls named
- 2009100 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2001reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- −38.2%21 in 2025, from 34
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.
Malea in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Malia in Hawaiian — related form
- Maria in Latin — related form
- Maleah in English — spelling variant
- Malia in Samoan — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Pennsylvania, Texas.
Maleas among us
people named Malea are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Malea
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Malea
- #5722
- Malea on the 2025 chart
- #753
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Malea went to 21 girls in 2025, but Maleah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 208, which makes it the 753rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,969 places above the chart.
- Maleah187
- Malea21
About 1 girl in 7,727 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 76,537 for Malea 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 Kendell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Malea's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kendell climbed just as high around 1971, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kendell's path sketches the road Malea is walking now.
Malea 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
Malea beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Malea in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It descends, by a documented route, from one of the most widely used names in the world.
- Mal, Lea and Mali give it three short forms with different characters.
- The spelling is phonetic and short, and reads easily in English and Spanish alike.
- Two pronunciations are current, -LAY- and -LEE-, and both are correct.
- Malia, Maleah and Maliyah share the sound and the spelling will need confirming.
- The Hawaiian connection is real but indirect, and can be overstated.
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What they receive
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Malea
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maleas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Malea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Malea?
- Malea is one of 2 recorded spellings. Maleah is the more common one — 187 births in 2025 against 21 for Malea.
- How popular is the name Malea in 2025?
- Malea ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Malea?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Malea — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Malea with classmates?
- Malea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Malea
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rosina#5722 · Delores#5722 · Vaughn#5722 · Roseline#5722 · Loyal#5722 · Missy#5722 · Danitza#5722 · Margret#5722
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Malea? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Malea and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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