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Malaika

#2,344 in 2025Girls' name

Angel

Malaika has been given to 2,662 babies in the U.S. since 1968. In 2025 it ranked #2,344 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2006, with 86 recorded.

Babies named Malaika, 2025

1 in 42,500

Malaika over time, 1880–2025

Girls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Malaika: meaning, origin, and history

Angel

Arabic

What Malaika means

Malaika means “angel”, associated with malaika.

Origin, language, and formation

Malaika is used in Swahili. Its origins include Arabic.

Malaika comes through Arabic مَلَائِكَة.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,662 girls were recorded with the name Malaika between 1968 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 86 in 2006; its best national rank was #1,390 in 1972.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,702 in 2020 to #2,344 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,798 in 2015 to #2,344 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Malaika?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 42,500
78 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 20,600
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,344
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
29,461 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Malaika 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 29,461 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Malaika. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Malaikas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Malaika was born before 2005 — so the typical Malaika is around 20 today.

Median birth year
2005
About 20 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
25.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
62.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,662
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 25.6% of all recorded uses (681).

Is Malaika 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
−134
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+358
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+454
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.24×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
90.7%
Peak was 2006 (86)
Years since peak
19
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
14.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,390
1972

Spellings of Malaika

Malaika is not the most common spelling — Alaina is, with 30.9% against Malaika's 1.6%.

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 Malaika is used

Across 2016–2025, Malaika was most concentrated in Maryland — about 1 in 11,111 girls, against 1 in 25,609 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 50,000).

29 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Maryland1 in 11,111
  2. 2Massachusetts1 in 12,500
  3. 3Florida1 in 14,286
  4. 4New York1 in 14,286
  5. 5Oregon1 in 25,000
  6. 6Colorado1 in 33,333
  7. 7Texas1 in 33,333
  8. 8California1 in 50,000

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.

Malaika around the world

Where Malaika 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
    1996–2025
    #983
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2000–2024
    #790
    in 2024
  • Ireland
    2011–2015
    #751
    in 2015
  • France
    1982–2025
    #863
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1995–2024
    #1,191
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2002–2012
    #563
    in 2012

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

Notable people named Malaika

People whose public names include Malaika, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Malaika by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,344
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 358
Best rank ever
#1,390
1972
Peak year
2006
86 that year
First recorded
1968
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,662
Count in 2025
78

Names similar to Malaika

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

MalikaMallikaMalorieMalayahMalloriMalaynaMalerieMaliyaMallieMalikahMalyndaMaleenaMalanieMalainaMalvikaMalenaMalissaMalinaMalasiaMallorieMaleighaMaleyahMalihaMalory

Names with a curve like Malaika

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Malaika, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

MalenaJoieKeziaDaylaKrishaNeelyZipporahNikaSabineTirzahRaineyXochitl

Sibling names for Malaika

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 Malaika

Top names of 2006, Malaika's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1972Girls' names starting with MSwahili Girl NamesSwahili Names