Maleia
Feminine · “through Malia”
Maleia stands very close to Malia, which is the Hawaiian form of Mary — the name as Hawaiian pronunciation reshaped it when missionaries brought it, with the r turned to an l because Hawaiian has no r.
How old is the name Maleia?
Maleia first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Maleia is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Maleia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maleia most popular?
Maleia peaked in 2023, reaching #2090 nationally. Today it ranks #2859, 769 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Where it comes from
From Maria to Maleia
The story of Maleia
Hawaiian has thirteen letters and reshapes every borrowed word to fit them, which is why Mary becomes Malia, Peter becomes Pekelo and Christmas becomes Kalikimaka. Malia became an ordinary Hawaiian name in the nineteenth century and spread to the mainland in the twentieth. Maleia is one of several mainland respellings of the sound — Maleia, Maleah, Maliyah — and, like most respellings, it moves the name away from its source while keeping what people actually hear.
Meaningscholars disagree
through Malia, a form of Mary, whose reading is unsettled
Hawaiian Malia is Maria adapted to Hawaiian sounds: the language has no r and no s, so borrowed names are systematically reshaped. Maria's own meaning has never been settled — 'bitter', 'beloved' and an Egyptian source have all been argued. Whether Maleia descends from Malia or was spelled independently on the Ma-ei-a pattern that Amelia and Maleah share is not recorded, and both are plausible.
How the name formed
- Maria
- Malia
- Maleia
Related forms: Malia · Maleah · María
Pronouncing Maleia
muh-LAY-ah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Hawaiian Malia is closer to mah-LEE-ah, with a clean ee; the ei spelling pulls American readers toward an ay sound instead.
Nicknames for Maleia
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
- 1956
- Most girls named
- 202392 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2090reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- +34.1%59 in 2025, from 44
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.
Maleia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Malia in Hawaiian — related form
- Maleah in English — spelling variant
- María in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Maleias among us
people named Maleia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 27,242 born in 2025 was named Maleia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Maleia
- #2859
- Maleia on the 2025 chart
- #851
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Maleia went to 59 girls in 2025, but Maleyah, Maleya and Maleiah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 109, which makes it the 851st most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,008 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 14,746 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 27,242 for Maleia 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 Halli test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maleia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Halli climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Halli's path sketches the road Maleia is walking now.
Maleia 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 Maleia is headed
Maleia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Maleia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maleia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Every sound is easy in English, so it is said correctly on sight more often than most new spellings.
- Mali and Leia are both natural short forms and Leia is a name of its own.
- Three open syllables that balance a short or blunt surname well.
- Malia is the established Hawaiian form and this spelling will be corrected to it.
- The ei changes the middle vowel away from the Hawaiian one, which some families mind.
- Maleia, Maliyah, Maleah and Malia are all in use and none is standard here.
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What they receive
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Maleia
Feminine · #2859 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maleias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Maleia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Maleia?
- Maleia is the most-used spelling in US records — 59 of the 109 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Maleyah, Maleya, Maleiah and Maleiyah.
- How popular is the name Maleia in 2025?
- Maleia ranks #2859 among US girl names in 2025, with 59 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maleia?
- About 1 in every 27,242 US girls born in 2025 was named Maleia — 59 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maleia with classmates?
- Maleia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maleia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emilly#2859 · Pyper#2859 · Amarie#2859 · Luci#2859 · Issa#2859 · Azaliah#2859 · Malinda#2859 · Kyah#2859
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maleia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maleia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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