Mailen
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly relating to Mary.
Name Census estimates that about 655 living Americans carry the first name Mailen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mailen today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mailen births was 2023 (120 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mailen. 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.
People living today
655
~ 1 in 523,289 Americans
Peak year
2023
120 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,422
Tracked since 2007
Census
Mailen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 471 people with the first name Mailen, which placed it at #21,522 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
#21,522
National first-name rank
People counted
471
471 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
89.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mailen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mailen is Hispanic at 89.6%. The next largest groups are White (5.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.5%). 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 Mailen 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 Mailen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino89.6% · 422
- White5.3% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 12
- Black or African American1.7% · 8
- Two or more races0.6% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Mailen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mailen from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 333 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mailen 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 Mailen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mailens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Mailen, while Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mailen
The name Mailen is believed to have originated from the Germanic languages, specifically Old High German and Old English. It is derived from the root word "mal," which means "speech" or "word." This root is found in various Germanic names, such as Malaric and Malahard.
In the early medieval period, the name Mailen was primarily used in regions of present-day Germany and England. It was a popular name among both noble and common families during the 8th to 11th centuries. Some variations of the name included Mailun, Maylun, and Maelan.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mailen can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholders in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry "Mailen de Winton" refers to a landowner in Winchester.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mailen. One of the earliest was Mailen of Brittany, a Breton nobleman who lived in the late 11th century and fought alongside William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England.
In the 13th century, Mailen von Naumburg was a German architect and stonemason who oversaw the construction of the Naumburg Cathedral in Saxony-Anhalt, renowned for its intricate stone carvings and medieval architecture.
During the Renaissance period, Mailen Binnig was a Swiss scientist and inventor, born in 1567. He is credited with developing one of the earliest microscopes and making significant contributions to the field of optics.
In the 18th century, Mailen Rousseau was a French philosopher and writer, born in 1712. He is best known for his influential works on political philosophy, including "The Social Contract" and "Discourse on Inequality."
Mailen Curie, born in 1867, was a pioneering Polish physicist and chemist. She made groundbreaking contributions to the study of radioactivity and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, as well as the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice.
People
Mailen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mailen 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
Mailen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mailen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 655 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mailen 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 523,289 US residents.
Is Mailen a common name?
We classify Mailen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 659 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mailen most popular?
The single biggest year for Mailen was 2023, when 120 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mailen is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mailen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 471 people with the name Mailen, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,522 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 Mailen 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 Mailen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mailen leans strongly female. 461 people counted with this name were female (97.5%), compared with 12 male bearers (2.5%). 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 Mailen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mailen is Hispanic at 89.6%. The next largest groups are White (5.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.5%). 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 Mailen most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Mailen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.6% (422 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 Mailen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mailen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mailen in the SSA data are female. 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 Mailen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mailen 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 Mailen 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 people are called Mailen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.