Maliki
Masculine · “of Malik”
Maliki names one of the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence — the one founded on the practice of Medina itself.
How old is the name Maliki?
Maliki first appears in US birth records in 1992 — 33 years ago. The typical Maliki alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,200 people named Maliki are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maliki most popular?
Maliki peaked in 2005, reaching #1691 nationally. Today it ranks #4707, 3,016 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From malik to Maliki
The story of Maliki
Malik ibn Anas taught in eighth-century Medina and argued that the settled practice of that city, where the earliest community had lived, was itself legal evidence — a distinctive position among the four schools. The Maliki madhhab remains dominant across North and West Africa. The name is used as a given name and reaches American records from several directions.
Meaning
of Malik; kingly
From Arabic malik, a king, with the -i ending that forms a relational adjective; Maliki means belonging to Malik. Malik ibn Anas gave his name to the school, and the word is also simply the adjective from king.
How the name formed
- malik
- Maliki
Related forms: Maliki · Maliki
Pronouncing Maliki
mah-LEE-kee
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. There is little variation.
Nicknames for Maliki
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
- 1992
- Most boys named
- 200579 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1691reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- +16.7%21 in 2025, from 18
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.
Maliki in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maliki in Arabic — same name
- Maliki in Swahili — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Indiana, Ohio.
Malikis among us
people named Maliki are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 81,337 born in 2025 was named Maliki
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Maliki
- #4707
- Maliki on the 2025 chart
- #896
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Maliki went to 21 boys in 2025, but Malikhi is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 32, which makes it the 896th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,811 places above the chart.
- Maliki21
- Malikhi11
About 1 boy in 53,377 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 81,337 for Maliki 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 Damario test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maliki's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Damario climbed just as high around 1984, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Damario's path sketches the road Maliki is walking now.
Maliki 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
Maliki beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maliki in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely major intellectual tradition behind it.
- Mali and Mal are both usable short forms.
- Every vowel is sounded, so it reads correctly in most languages.
- It names a school of law, which carries specific associations.
- Maliki, Malik and Malachi are all close and get confused.
- Six letters and three syllables, manageable but not short.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Maliki
Masculine · #4707 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Malikis 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 Maliki are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Maliki?
- Maliki is the most-used spelling in US records — 21 of the 32 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Malikhi.
- How popular is the name Maliki in 2025?
- Maliki ranks #4707 among US boy names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maliki?
- About 1 in every 81,337 US boys born in 2025 was named Maliki — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maliki with classmates?
- Maliki will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maliki
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ole#4707 · Shelton#4707 · Constantino#4707 · Adel#4707 · Cord#4707 · Zalman#4707 · Montez#4707 · Homer#4707
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maliki? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maliki and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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