Name Awesome

Maliyah

#626 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly to be bitter, through Malia

Maliyah has been given to 15,359 babies in the U.S. since 1994. In 2025 it ranked #626 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2009, with 1,117 recorded.

Babies named Maliyah, 2025

1 in 7,100

Maliyah over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05001K1.5K18801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Maliyah: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly to be bitter, through Malia

Hawaiian

What Maliyah means

Maliyah belongs to the name family reached through Maliyah → Malia → Maria → מרים. Its meaning is “to be bitter”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Probably a fanciful spelling of Malia, from Hawaiian Malia.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Maliyah (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Maliyah is used in English. Its origins include Hawaiian.

Maliyah comes through Hawaiian Malia.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Malia, Maria and מרים.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 15,359 girls were recorded with the name Maliyah between 1994 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 1,117 in 2009; its best national rank was #297 in 2009.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #464 in 2020 to #626 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #435 in 2015 to #626 in 2025.

How common is Maliyah?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 7,100
467 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 3,440
0.03% of girls
Rank, 2025
#626
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
4,922 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Maliyah 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 1001%
School of 5007%

Put another way: gather 4,922 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Maliyah. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Maliyahs were born

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

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
51.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
97.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
15,359
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 51.7% of all recorded uses (7,941).

Is Maliyah 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
−38
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−162
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−191
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.64×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
41.8%
Peak was 2009 (1,117)
Years since peak
16
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
14.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#297
2009

Spellings of Maliyah

Maliyah is not the most common spelling — Mariah is, with 16.6% against Maliyah's 2.2%.

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 Maliyah is used

Across 2016–2025, Maliyah was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 855 girls, against 1 in 2,158 across all states with data. It was least common in Utah (1 in 14,286).

7117 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 855
  2. 2Alabama1 in 1,163
  3. 3Georgia1 in 1,235
  4. 4Louisiana1 in 1,235
  5. 5South Carolina1 in 1,235
  6. 6Maryland1 in 1,471
  7. 7New Mexico1 in 1,471
  8. 8Florida1 in 1,563

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.

Geographically, Maliyah is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 38% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Maliyah around the world

Where Maliyah 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
    #1,512
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2018–2025
    #780
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2023–2023
    #856
    in 2023
  • France
    2012–2025
    #3,702
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2004–2024
    #1,286
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2009–2013
    #818
    in 2013

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.

Maliyah by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#626
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 162
Best rank ever
#297
2009
Peak year
2009
1,117 that year
First recorded
1994
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
15,359
Count in 2025
467

Names similar to Maliyah

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

MalayahMaleyahMalindaMalissaMalaiyahMalyahMalaysiaMaleahMalorieMalayaMalloryJaniyahKaliyahJaliyahMalaniMalaikaMaleiyahTaliyahMaliahMalikaZariyahZaniyahMallorieMalina

Names with a curve like Maliyah

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

JayleenAleenaMadilynnKennediAverieMckinleyLillianaZariahYaretziElleBraelynJimena

Sibling names for Maliyah

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 Maliyah

Top names of 2009, Maliyah's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2009Girls' names starting with M