Maleah
Of Arabic origin meaning "princess", "queen", or "sovereign".
Name Census estimates that about 9,111 living Americans carry the first name Maleah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maleah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maleah births was 2009 (508 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maleah. 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.
Key insights
- • Maleah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
9.1K
~ 1 in 37,620 Americans
Peak year
2009
508 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,210
Tracked since 1956
Popularity
Maleah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maleah from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,114 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Maleah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maleah 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 Maleah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maleahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Maleah, while North Dakota, Massachusetts, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 194 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maleah
The given name Maleah is a relatively modern invention, with its precise origins somewhat unclear. It is believed to have emerged in the late 20th century, potentially as a combination of the names Malia and Leah. The name Malia has Hawaiian roots, derived from the Hawaiian word for "Mary." Meanwhile, Leah is a Hebrew name with biblical origins, meaning "weary" or "tired."
While the name Maleah itself does not appear to have any direct historical references or appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its potential constituent parts do have rich histories. The name Malia, for instance, is derived from the Hawaiian version of the name Mary, which has its roots in the Hebrew name Miryam, meaning "bitter" or "beloved."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Maleah was Maleah Brown, an American actress born in 1996. She is known for her roles in television shows such as "The Game" and "Raising Hope." Another notable figure is Maleah Davis, an American basketball player who played for the University of Southern California in the early 2000s.
In the realm of music, Maleah Jacobs is an American singer and songwriter who gained recognition in the early 2010s for her collaborations with artists like Cee Lo Green and Diplo. She has also released her own music and has performed at various festivals and events.
Maleah Grover-Kilshaw, born in 1998, is a Canadian actress who has appeared in television shows like "The Killing" and "The Bletchley Circle." She has also had roles in several films, including "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2."
Lastly, Maleah Loyd was an American child who gained national attention in 2019 when she went missing in Houston, Texas, at the age of 4. Her disappearance sparked a widespread search, and her case brought attention to issues of child safety and the challenges faced by law enforcement in missing persons cases.
People
Maleah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maleah 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
Maleah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maleah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,111 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maleah 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 37,620 US residents.
Is Maleah a common name?
We classify Maleah as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,237 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maleah most popular?
The single biggest year for Maleah was 2009, when 508 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maleah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Maleah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maleah 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.
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.