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Malala

Girls' name

Variant of Malalai

Malala has been given to 95 babies in the U.S. since 2013. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2018, with 13 recorded.

Babies named Malala, 2024

1 in 669,000

Malala over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Malala: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Malalai

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Malala means

Malala is a variant of Malalai.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Malala is used in Pashto.

Another recorded pronunciation is /mə.ˈlaː.lə/ for Malala.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Malalai.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 95 girls were recorded with the name Malala between 2013 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 13 in 2018; its best national rank was #8,428 in 2018.

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 Malala?

Malala had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 669,000
5 of 3,342,801 births
Among girls only
1 in 324,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
463,412 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Malala 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 2024 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 463,412 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Malala. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Malalas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Malala was born before 2017 — so the typical Malala is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
75.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
95
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 75.8% of all recorded uses (72).

Is Malala 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
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2018 (13)
Years since peak
7
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
16.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#8,428
2018

Spellings of Malala

Malala is not the most common spelling — Makayla is, with 24.6% against Malala's 0.02%.

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.

Malala around the world

Where Malala 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
    2012–2025
    #5,927
    in 2025
  • France
    2002–2025
    #5,265
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    2010–2010
    #801
    in 2010

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.

Malala by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#8,428
2018
Peak year
2018
13 that year
First recorded
2013
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
95
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Malala

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

MalaMalkieMalibuMalliMalleyMalanniMalkiaMalyahMalonieMaleniaMalauniMalaakMaloneMalieaMalynaMalynMallyMalekaMalaniiMalaiaMalitaMalaryMalaiMalyia

Sibling names for Malala

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 Malala

Top names of 2018, Malala's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2018Girls' names starting with MPashto Girl NamesPashto Names