Maleena
Feminine · “Possibly "of Magdala”
If Maleena descends from Magdalena, then it descends from a place — and the place means tower. Magdala on the Sea of Galilee is Hebrew migdal, a tower, so Mary Magdalene is Mary of the Tower, identified by her town in exactly the way a surname works.
How old is the name Maleena?
Maleena first appears in US birth records in 1991 — 34 years ago. The typical Maleena alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 900 people named Maleena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maleena most popular?
Maleena peaked in 2017, reaching #3346 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 4,145 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From migdal to Maleena
Our story of Maleena
Magdalene is not a name but an address. In the Gospels several women share the name Mary, and they are distinguished by attachment: Mary of Bethany, Mary the mother of James, Mary Magdalene — Mary from Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee whose name is the ordinary Hebrew word for a tower. That is a surname doing a surname's job a thousand years before hereditary surnames existed, and the same method appears throughout the period: Jesus of Nazareth, Saul of Tarsus, Joseph of Arimathea. Over time the place name detached and became a given name in its own right across Europe, then shortened everywhere — Magdalena, Magda, Malena, Lena, Madeleine, Maddy. Maleena, peaking in 2017, may be the far end of that chain or may be unrelated to it, and the honest position is that the spelling alone cannot say.
Meaningscholars disagree
Possibly "of Magdala" — Hebrew "tower"
Two readings are live. Maleena may be a modern spelling of Malena, a Spanish and Scandinavian short form of Magdalena, from Magdala, from Hebrew migdal, a tower. Alternatively it is an American formation on the Mal- stem with the -eena ending. The record does not distinguish them, and no meaning can be claimed for the second reading.
How the name formed
- migdal
- Magdala
- Magdalena
- Malena
- Maleena
Related forms: Malena · Malena · Malina
Pronouncing Maleena
muh-LEE-nah
Three syllables, stress on the second, with a long ee. Spanish Malena is mah-LEH-nah with a shorter, more open second vowel.
Nicknames for Maleena
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
- 1991
- Most girls named
- 201747 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3346reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- −48.1%14 in 2025, from 27
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.
Maleena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Malena in Spanish — spelling variant
- Malena in Swedish — same name
- Malina in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Maleenas among us
people named Maleena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Maleena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Maleena
- #7491
- Maleena on the 2025 chart
- #865
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Maleena went to 14 girls in 2025, but Malena is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 95, which makes it the 865th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,626 places above the chart.
- Malena81
- Maleena14
About 1 girl in 16,919 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 114,805 for Maleena 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 Meriem test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maleena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Meriem climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Meriem's path sketches the road Maleena is walking now.
Maleena 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
Maleena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maleena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Lena is an immediate short form settled across many languages.
- It is soft, flowing and easy to say in English or Spanish.
- It may connect to one of the best-known names in the Gospels.
- Malena, Malina and Melina all compete for a very similar sound.
- The origin cannot be determined from the spelling.
- It is rare enough to need spelling out every time.
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What they receive
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Maleena
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maleenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Maleena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Maleena?
- Maleena is one of 2 recorded spellings. Malena is the more common one — 81 births in 2025 against 14 for Maleena.
- How popular is the name Maleena in 2025?
- Maleena ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maleena?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Maleena — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maleena with classmates?
- Maleena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maleena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maleena? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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