Malek
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "king" or "sovereign".
Name Census estimates that about 2,933 living Americans carry the first name Malek. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Malek today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malek births was 2023 (151 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malek. 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 Malek with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Malek is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 116,861 Americans
Peak year
2023
151 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,427
Tracked since 1974
Census
Malek in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,814 people with the first name Malek, which placed it at #5,888 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
#5,888
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,814 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malek
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malek is White at 62.6%. The next largest groups are Black (22.2%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Malek 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 Malek at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.6% · 1,762
- Black or African American22.2% · 626
- Two or more races6.9% · 195
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 137
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 91
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Malek
Out of the 2,971 babies given the name Malek since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Malek as a male name
- Ranked #1,427 in 2024
- 128 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (151 births)
Malek as a female name
- Ranked #16,066 in 2011
- 6 female births in 2011
- Peak: 2011 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malek leans strongly male. 2,645 people counted with this name were male (93.8%), compared with 174 female bearers (6.2%).
Popularity
Malek: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malek from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 930 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Malek remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malek 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 Malek during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maleks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Malek, while Tennessee, Minnesota, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 85 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Malek
The name Malek has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, with roots dating back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "malik," which means "king" or "sovereign." The name signifies power, authority, and nobility.
In the early days of Islam, the name Malek was associated with rulers and leaders. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name can be found in the Quran, where it is mentioned as one of the attributes of Allah, the Almighty.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Malek. One of the most famous was Malek ibn Anas (714-795 CE), a renowned Islamic scholar and the founder of the Maliki school of jurisprudence, one of the four major Sunni schools of Islamic law.
Another prominent individual was Malek Shah (1055-1092 CE), the Sultan of the Seljuk Empire, who ruled over a vast territory spanning modern-day Iran, Iraq, and parts of Central Asia. His reign was marked by the expansion of the Seljuk territories and the patronage of arts and literature.
In the field of literature, Malek al-Shuara (meaning "King of Poets") was a title bestowed upon several influential poets throughout the Islamic world. One such figure was Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (1926-1964), an Iraqi poet who played a significant role in the Arab literary renaissance of the 20th century.
The name Malek also has a presence in ancient Persian literature. One example is Malek Shah, a character in the epic poem "Shahnameh" by the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi (940-1020 CE). In the poem, Malek Shah is portrayed as a wise and just ruler.
Another notable figure bearing the name was Malek Adhel (1145-1218 CE), a Kurdish ruler and nobleman who served as the Sultan of Egypt and Syria during the Ayyubid dynasty. He was known for his military prowess and diplomatic skills, as well as his patronage of arts and sciences.
These examples illustrate the rich history and cultural significance of the name Malek, which has been associated with leadership, nobility, and intellectual pursuits across various regions and time periods.
People
Malek + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malek 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
Malek: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malek?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,933 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malek 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 116,861 US residents.
Is Malek a common name?
We classify Malek as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,971 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malek most popular?
The single biggest year for Malek was 2023, when 151 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malek is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Malek in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,814 people with the name Malek, or 0.93 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,888 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 Malek 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 Malek?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malek leans strongly male. 2,645 people counted with this name were male (93.8%), compared with 174 female bearers (6.2%). 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 Malek?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malek is White at 62.6%. The next largest groups are Black (22.2%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Malek most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Malek in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.6% (1,762 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 Malek in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malek a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Malek 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 Malek still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malek 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 Malek 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 share the name Malek?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.