How rare is the name Malaya?

5,161 people in the United States have the first name Malaya, about 1 in 58,522. It ranks #3,826 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

MALAYA

#3,826

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
5,161
About
1 in 58,522
This common or more
83.1%
Who bears it

Of the 5,161 people named Malaya, 47.6% reported their origin as Black, 18.8% as two or more races and 14.6% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.5%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Malaya peaked in 2014, when 449 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19772025
Peak year
2014
Births that year
449
In 2025*
351 ▼22%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 8,467 babies have been given the name since 1977. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Malaya by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2010s, when it ranked #1,367. The largest share of babies named Malaya, 62%, were born in 2013 or later.

1970s#16,22023
1980s#17,32633
1990s#7,451225
2000s#2,0661,980
2010s#1,3673,907
2020s#1,4232,299
Generation X 1965–800.3%
Millennials 1981–961.6%
Generation Z 1997–1236.1%
2013 and later62%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Malaya is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Malaya has been most common in Nevada (2.9×), Louisiana (2.2×), and South Carolina (2.2×), and least common in New Jersey (0.27×).

7,039 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Malaya

#3,823 Desire · 5,162#3,823 Liv · 5,162#3,827 Qing · 5,158#3,828 Nohemi · 5,157

Spelled almost the same

7 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Malaya, most common first.

#7,600 Malayah · 1,993#8,183 Maliya · 1,785#20,564 Malay · 501#24,891 Maleya · 384#27,579 Malayia · 331#29,411 Malya · 301#34,364 Malaia · 238

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