Malique
Masculine · “Arabic "king”
Malique is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,952 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Malique is an Arabic word wearing a French ending. The base is malik, king, one of the most widely used Arabic name-words; the -ique is the French spelling of a final k sound, as in unique and antique. The two do not meet anywhere in either language.
How old is the name Malique?
Malique first appears in US birth records in 1989 — 36 years ago. The typical Malique alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 1,900 people named Malique are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Malique most popular?
Malique peaked in 1996, reaching #1011 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 6,183 places below that high. See the whole 1996 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From malik to Malique
The story of Malique
Malik entered American naming substantially in the 1970s and 1980s, alongside a broader adoption of Arabic and Islamic names in Black American communities, and it is now a fully settled American name. The respellings followed the name rather than preceding it: Maleek, Maliek, Malique and Maleeq all cluster in the 1990s, with Malique peaking in 1996. The -ique ending is the interesting choice, because it is a real French orthographic convention doing a job it was never designed for — French uses it to close a word on a k sound after a long i, and here it is used to close an Arabic word on a k sound after a short one. The result is a spelling that looks continental and is read correctly by almost everyone.
Meaning
Arabic "king"
From Arabic malik, king or sovereign, from the root m-l-k, to possess or rule — the same root behind mulk, dominion, and the Hebrew melech, king. Al-Malik is one of the ninety-nine names of God in Islam. The related Malak, with a different vowel, means angel and is a separate word; Maliq, Maleek and Malique are all respellings of the king word. The French -ique ending contributes nothing to the meaning.
How the name formed
- malik
- Malik
- Malique
Related forms: مالك · Malik · Maleek
Pronouncing Malique
muh-LEEK
Two syllables, stress on the second. Arabic MAA-lik stresses the first syllable and has a long first vowel; the American pronunciation reverses this, and both are in use depending on the family.
Nicknames for Malique
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
- 1989
- Most boys named
- 1998133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1011reached in 1996
- Change vs 2024
- −54.2%11 in 2025, from 24
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.
Malique in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- مالك in Arabic — transliteration
- Malik in English — spelling variant
- Maleek in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, New York.
Maliques among us
people named Malique are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Malique
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Vernard test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Malique's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vernard climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vernard's path sketches the road Malique is walking now.
Malique 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
Malique beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Malique in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The base word has a settled, documented Arabic meaning.
- The spelling is read correctly by English speakers on first sight.
- Mal is a short form shared with several established names.
- Malik is by far the more common spelling and will be substituted constantly.
- The French ending is decorative and adds four letters to a five-letter word.
- Arabic and American speakers stress the name on different syllables.
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What they receive
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Malique
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maliques are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Malique are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Malique in 2025?
- Malique ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Malique?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Malique — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Malique with classmates?
- Malique will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Malique
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Malique? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Malique and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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