Malia
Feminine · “Hawaiian and Samoan form of Maria”
Malia is the Hawaiian form of Maria — the same name, reshaped by a language with no r and no s. It traveled the Pacific with the nineteenth-century Bible translators, took root in Samoan and Tongan too, and arrived on the mainland as three open vowels that almost nobody mishears once they've heard it said.
How old is the name Malia?
Malia first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Malia alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 31,000 people named Malia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Malia most popular?
Malia peaked in 2009, reaching #192 nationally. Today it ranks #349, 157 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Malia appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Miryam to Malia
The story of Malia
When Protestant missionaries put Hawaiian into writing in the early nineteenth century, they worked with a short alphabet: no r, no s. Maria, the name of the mother of Jesus, came out of that process as Malia, and it entered Hawaiian usage as a plain and ordinary Christian name. The same substitution happened across Polynesia, which is why Malia is equally at home in Samoan and Tongan. On the mainland it stayed a quiet island name for a long while, then became widely familiar to Americans through Malia Obama, elder daughter of Barack and Michelle Obama.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hawaiian and Samoan form of Maria, from Hebrew Miryam
The Maria/Miriam line is certain; what Miryam itself meant is not. The oldest readings compete: a Hebrew root suggesting 'bitter', and an Egyptian element mry, 'beloved'. The familiar 'star of the sea' and 'drop of the sea' come later, from Latin glosses on the name rather than from its origin.
How the name formed
- Miryam
- Maria
- Malia
Related forms: Malia · Malia · María · Meri · Máire · Maria
Pronouncing Malia
muh-LEE-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. In Hawaiian the first vowel is fuller: mah-LEE-ah. Both are correct and both are understood.
Nicknames for Malia
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
- 1919
- Most girls named
- 20171,429 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #192reached in 2009
- Change vs 2023
- −23.9%872 in 2025, from 1,146
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.
Malia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Malia in Hawaiian — same name
- Malia in Samoan — same name
- María in Spanish — related form
- Meri in Māori — related form
- Máire in Irish — related form
- Maria in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Malias among us
people named Malia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,843 born in 2025 was named Malia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Malia
- #349
- Malia on the 2025 chart
- #214
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Malia went to 872 girls in 2025, but Maliyah, Maliah and Maliya and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 1,534, which makes it the 214th most-given girls’ name of the year — 135 places above the chart.
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 1,048 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,843 for Malia 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 Luann test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Malia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Luann climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Luann's path sketches the road Malia is walking now.
Malia 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 Malia is headed
Malia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Malia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Malia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, so the name survives a phone call, a roll call and a coffee order without much explanation.
- Belongs fully to two traditions at once — Hawaiian and Samoan Christian usage, and the wider Maria family behind them.
- Carries a genuine line back through Maria to Miryam, one of the longest continuously used names on record.
- Has short forms already in circulation — Mali, Lia, Mal — rather than none at all.
- The sound is settled but the spelling is not: Maliyah, Maleah, Maliah and Maliya all exist, so expect to confirm which one you mean fairly often.
- For many Americans the name still points first to Malia Obama. That association is warm and will fade with time, but it is present now.
- It sits close to Mila, Maya, Amelia and Maria in the ear, and one of those will occasionally be what people hear the first time.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Malia to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Malia
Feminine · #349 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Malias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 31,000 people named Malia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Malia?
- Malia is the most-used spelling in US records — 872 of the 1,534 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Maliyah, Maliah, Maliya and Malya.
- How popular is the name Malia in 2025?
- Malia ranks #349 among US girl names in 2025, with 872 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Malia?
- About 1 in every 1,843 US girls born in 2025 was named Malia — 872 in all.
- Will my child share the name Malia with classmates?
- Malia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Malia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rebecca#349 · Sydney#348 · Angelina#347 · Maryam#351 · Paige#346 · Hope#352 · Aylin#345 · Thea#353
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Malia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Malia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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