Humanverse

Malana vs Malia

American parents have registered 31,606 Malias since 1880, against 1,210 Malanas. Malia is still ahead, with 872 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Malana against Malia, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Malana Malia

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 76 years in which either name was published, Malia for 75 years and Malana for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Malana Malia
Total US births 1,21031,606
Most in one year 671,700
Babies in 2025 16872
Estimated living today 1,20031,000
Median age today 1814
Peak year 20072009
Best rank 2,710th girls192nd girls
Rank in 2025 6,838th349th
First recorded 19531919
Girls / boys 1,210 / 031,606 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Malanas alive today are over 18; half the Malias are over 14. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Malana and Malia.