Malai

#10,591 in 2025Girls' name

Garland, wreath

Malai has been given to 205 babies in the U.S. since 2005. In 2025 it ranked #10,591 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2020, with 17 recorded.

Babies named Malai, 2025

1 in 368,000

Malai over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Malai: meaning, origin, and history

Garland, wreath

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Malai means

Malai means “garland, wreath”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 205 girls were recorded with the name Malai between 2005 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 17 in 2020; its best national rank was #6,809 in 2020.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,809 in 2020 to #10,591 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #11,506 in 2015 to #10,591 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.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Malai?

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

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 368,000; 9 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only: 1 in 179,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025: #10,591; of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 255,323 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Malai 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 255,323 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Malai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Malais were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Malai was born before 2014 — so the typical Malai is around 11 today.

Median birth year: 2014; About 11 years old
Biggest decade: 2010s; 40.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 205; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2010s — 40.0% of all recorded uses (82).

Is Malai 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: −608; Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago: −3,782; Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago: +915; Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago: 1.00×; More babies than then
Share of its own peak: 52.9%; Peak was 2020 (17)
Years since peak: 5; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 35.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #6,809; 2020

Spellings of Malai

Malai is not the most common spelling — Maya is, with 16.0% against Malai's 0.03%.

Maya16.0%123,587
Mila10.9%84,489
Marla5.0%38,781
Kali4.2%32,527
Malia4.1%31,606
Mara3.1%24,038
Cali3.0%23,342
Sarai3.0%22,919

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 Malai is used

Across 1910–2025, Malai was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 3,202,555 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1California1 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. Malai has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Malai by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: #10,591
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Down 3,782
Best rank ever: #6,809; 2020
Peak year: 2020; 17 that year
First recorded: 2005
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 205
Count in 2025: 9

Names similar to Malai

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

Malan Mally Malyn Malya Malee Malie Malli Malley Malibu Malu Malkia Malyah Malaak Malone Malva Maley Malin Solai Maleka Malaia Malik Malanii Malkie Malaiah

Sibling names for Malai

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

For a sister

Annabell Abagail Karleigh Sydnie Rhianna Alysa Adelle Keren

For a brother

Aaden Kale Hamilton Caesar Brennen Tobin Jerimiah Jorden

Explore around Malai

Top names of 2020, Malai's peak year The 2020s in full Other names that peaked in 2020 Girls' names starting with M Thai Girl Names Thai Names