Maleeka
Feminine name with Arabic origins, meaning "queen" or "sovereign ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 234 living Americans carry the first name Maleeka. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maleeka today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maleeka births was 1991 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maleeka. 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 Maleeka with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
234
~ 1 in 1,464,762 Americans
Peak year
1991
14 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,557
Tracked since 1977
Census
Maleeka in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 243 people with the first name Maleeka, which placed it at #33,857 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
#33,857
National first-name rank
People counted
243
243 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maleeka
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maleeka is Black at 63.8%. The next largest groups are White (15.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Maleeka 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 Maleeka at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.8% · 155
- White15.2% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 19
- Two or more races7.0% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Maleeka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maleeka from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 110 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maleeka 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 Maleeka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maleekas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Maleeka
The name Maleeka is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language. Its roots can be traced back to the word "malik" or "malek," which means "king" or "ruler." The name is often associated with royalty and leadership.
In the early centuries of Islam, the name Maleeka gained popularity among the Arab world. It was a name often given to girls born into noble or influential families, reflecting the desire for their daughters to possess qualities of strength, authority, and grace.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maleeka can be found in the writings of renowned Arab scholars and historians from the 8th and 9th centuries. These writings mention a woman named Maleeka bint al-Husayn, who was a prominent figure in the court of the Abbasid Caliphate during the reign of Harun al-Rashid (786–809 CE).
Throughout history, the name Maleeka has been carried by several notable individuals. One such figure was Maleeka al-Samarkandiyya (d. 1349 CE), a renowned scholar and poet from the city of Samarkand, now in modern-day Uzbekistan. Her works, primarily in Arabic and Persian, explored themes of love, spirituality, and the human experience.
In the 18th century, Maleeka al-Dimashqiyya (1714–1788) was a celebrated Syrian calligrapher and artist. Her intricate calligraphic works adorned the walls of mosques and palaces throughout the region, earning her widespread acclaim and patronage from the ruling elite.
Another prominent figure was Maleeka al-Zamzamiyya (1852–1932), a Saudi Arabian scholar and teacher who played a significant role in the education of women in the Arabian Peninsula. Her efforts to promote literacy and knowledge among women were groundbreaking for her time.
In more recent history, Maleeka Gomes (1911–1986) was a pioneering Indian social worker and activist. She dedicated her life to uplifting underprivileged communities, advocating for women's rights, and promoting education for the marginalized sections of society.
While the name Maleeka has its roots in the Arab world, it has transcended cultural boundaries and gained recognition across various regions and communities, becoming a symbol of strength, leadership, and intellectual excellence for those who have carried it throughout the centuries.
People
Maleeka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maleeka 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
Maleeka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maleeka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maleeka 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 1,464,762 US residents.
Is Maleeka a common name?
We classify Maleeka as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 241 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maleeka most popular?
The single biggest year for Maleeka was 1991, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maleeka is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maleeka in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 243 people with the name Maleeka, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,857 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 Maleeka 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 Maleeka?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maleeka leans strongly female. 237 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Maleeka?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maleeka is Black at 63.8%. The next largest groups are White (15.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Maleeka most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Maleeka in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.8% (155 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 Maleeka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maleeka a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maleeka 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 Maleeka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maleeka 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 Maleeka 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 have the name Maleeka?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.