Humanverse

Malichi vs Malinda

American parents have registered 21,464 Malindas since 1880, against 522 Malichis. Malinda is still ahead, with 59 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Malichi against Malinda, 1880 to 2025 0 125 250 375 500 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Malichi Malinda

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

Malinda has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2011, when Malichi had 27 and Malinda had 55.

Side by side

  Malichi Malinda
Total US births 52221,464
Most in one year 37460
Babies in 2025 559
Estimated living today 52016,000
Median age today 1652
Peak year 20041969
Best rank 2,788th boys447th girls
Rank in 2025 12,008th2,859th
First recorded 19941880
Girls / boys 0 / 52221,464 / 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 Malindas alive today are over 52; half the Malichis are over 16. That is 36 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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