Maalik
Master, ruler, sovereign; an Arabic name meaning "owner, proprietor".
Name Census estimates that about 535 living Americans carry the first name Maalik. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Maalik today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maalik births was 1995 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maalik. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Maalik with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
535
~ 1 in 640,662 Americans
Peak year
1995
35 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,069
Tracked since 1989
Census
Maalik in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 423 people with the first name Maalik, which placed it at #23,223 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#23,223
National first-name rank
People counted
423
423 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maalik
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maalik is Black at 71.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.6%) and Hispanic (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Maalik described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Maalik at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.4% · 302
- Two or more races11.6% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 33
- White7.1% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Maalik: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maalik from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 183 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maalik by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Maalik during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maaliks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Maalik, while Pennsylvania, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maalik
The name Maalik finds its origins in the Arabic language, tracing back to the medieval Islamic era. It is derived from the Arabic word "malik," which means "king" or "sovereign ruler." This name holds a strong connection to authority, leadership, and power.
Historically, the name Maalik was prevalent among the Arab nobility and ruling classes during the golden age of Islamic civilization. It was commonly bestowed upon princes, rulers, and those with significant authority and influence within the Islamic empires of the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Maalik can be found in the Qur'an, the holy scripture of Islam. In Chapter 37, verse 123, the name is mentioned in reference to the prophet Abraham's son, who is referred to as Ismail (Ishmael in English).
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Maalik. One of the most famous is Malik ibn Anas (711-795 CE), a renowned Islamic scholar and the founder of the Maliki school of jurisprudence, one of the four major Sunni Islamic legal traditions. His seminal work, "Al-Muwatta," is considered one of the earliest collections of hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad).
Another significant figure is Malik al-Ashtar (605-661 CE), a celebrated military commander and companion of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam. He is renowned for his strategic prowess and his influential treatise on governance, known as the "Letter to Malik al-Ashtar."
In the realm of literature, Malik Ambar (1548-1626 CE) was an influential military leader and prime minister of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in the Deccan region of India. He played a pivotal role in the resistance against the Mughal Empire and is celebrated for his administrative and military reforms.
Malik Kafur (c. 1293-1316 CE) was a prominent military general and administrator during the Delhi Sultanate in India. He rose to power as a slave and went on to become the governor of several provinces, leading successful military campaigns and contributing to the expansion of the sultanate's territories.
Malik Ghulam Muhammad (1833-1908 CE) was a renowned poet, philosopher, and spiritual leader from the Indian subcontinent. He is revered for his literary works, particularly his poetry collection "Diwan-e-Ghulam Muhammad," which explores themes of love, mysticism, and spirituality.
People
Maalik + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maalik as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Maalik: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maalik?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 535 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maalik going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 640,662 US residents.
Is Maalik a common name?
We classify Maalik as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 543 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maalik most popular?
The single biggest year for Maalik was 1995, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maalik is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maalik in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 423 people with the name Maalik, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,223 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Maalik in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Maalik?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maalik appears almost entirely male. Of the 422 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Maalik?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maalik is Black at 71.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.6%) and Hispanic (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Maalik most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Maalik in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.4% (302 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Maalik in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maalik a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maalik in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Maalik still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maalik in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Maalik can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Maalik?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Maalik at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.