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Malin

#7,018 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Woman from Magdala, through Magdalena

Malin has been given to 1,070 babies in the U.S. since 1974. In 2025 it ranked #7,018 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2012, with 66 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 79% girls, 21% boys all-time.

Babies named Malin, 2025

1 in 207,000

Malin over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Malin over time

In 2025, Malin went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19352025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Malin: meaning, origin, and history

Woman from Magdala, through Magdalena

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Malin means

Malin belongs to the name family reached through Malin → Magdalena. Its meaning is “woman from Magdala”.

Origin, language, and formation

Malin is used in Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Magdalena.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Swedish, Malin is pronounced /ˈmɑːˌlɪn/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 840 girls were recorded with the name Malin between 1974 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 66 in 2012; its best national rank was #2,700 in 2012.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,115 in 2020 to #7,018 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #3,821 in 2015 to #7,018 in 2025.

In the United States, 230 boys were recorded with the name Malin between 1935 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 13 in 2018; its best national rank was #3,349 in 1939.

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 Malin?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 207,000
16 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 100,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#7,018
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
143,620 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Malin 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 143,620 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Malin. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Malins were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Malin was born before 2012 — so the typical Malin is around 13 today.

Median birth year
2012
About 13 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
52.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
88.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
840
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 52.5% of all recorded uses (441).

Is Malin 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
+1,738
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,903
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−3,197
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.40×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
24.2%
Peak was 2012 (66)
Years since peak
13
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,700
2012

Spellings of Malin

Malin is not the most common spelling — Maria is, with 22.9% against Malin's 0.03%.

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 Malin is used

Across 1910–2025, Malin was most concentrated in Arizona — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 579,606 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arizona1 in —
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3Massachusetts1 in —
  4. 4Minnesota1 in —
  5. 5Missouri1 in —
  6. 6New York1 in —
  7. 7Washington1 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. Malin has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Malin around the world

Where Malin 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
    2002–2025
    #2,788
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2013–2025
    #780
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #162
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2009–2024
    #3,457
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1978–1978
    #626
    in 1978

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Malin by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#7,018
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,903
Best rank ever
#2,700
2012
Peak year
2012
66 that year
First recorded
1974
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
840
Count in 2025
16

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,349
1939
Peak year
2018
13 that year
First recorded
1935
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
230
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Malin

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

MalieMaloriMaleniMaleeMalaMalyaMaleiaMaleaMalanaMaleyaMalkyMalenyMaloniMaloryMaliMalihaArlinMalanMalaiMalaiaSelinMalekaMalakMally

Sibling names for Malin

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 Malin

Top names of 2012, Malin's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2012Girls' names starting with MNorwegian Girl NamesSwedish Girl Names