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Mala

#9,858 in 2025Girls' name

Necklace

Mala has been given to 698 babies in the U.S. since 1951. In 2025 it ranked #9,858 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1956, with 51 recorded.

Babies named Mala, 2025

1 in 332,000

Mala over time, 1880–2025

Girls
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mala: meaning, origin, and history

Necklace

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Mala means

Mala means “necklace”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 698 girls were recorded with the name Mala between 1951 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 51 in 1956; its best national rank was #1,497 in 1956.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #10,001 in 2020 to #9,858 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #10,593 in 2015 to #9,858 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Mala?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 161,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#9,858
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mala sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mala. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Malas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mala was born before 1975 — so the typical Mala is around 50 today.

Median birth year
1975
About 50 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
25.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
26.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
698
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 25.1% of all recorded uses (175).

Is Mala rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
+143
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+735
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
19.6%
Peak was 1956 (51)
Years since peak
69
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
38.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,497
1956

Spellings of Mala

Mala is not the most common spelling — Mary is, with 37.1% against Mala's <0.01%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Mala is used

Across 1910–2025, Mala was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 814,834 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Mala has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Mala around the world

Where Mala ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1997–2025
    #3,035
    in 2025
  • France
    2001–2001
    #4,875
    in 2001
  • South Australia
    1969–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Mala by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#9,858
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 143
Best rank ever
#1,497
1956
Peak year
1956
51 that year
First recorded
1951
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
698
Count in 2025
10

Names similar to Mala

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MaliMalinMalalaMaluMalieMaleeCalaMaloriMalyaMaleyaMalenyMaloniMaleniMalanMalaiMalaiaMaleiaMaleaMalekaMalanaMalkyMallyMalynAla

Sibling names for Mala

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Mala

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