Mali
A feminine name of West African origin meaning "hippopotamus".
Name Census estimates that about 1,424 living Americans carry the first name Mali. It is a predominantly female name (94.4% of registrations). The average person named Mali today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mali births was 2019 (69 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mali. 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 Mali with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Mali 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 240,698 Americans
Peak year
2019
69 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,609
Tracked since 1967
Census
Mali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,817 people with the first name Mali, which placed it at #8,089 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
#8,089
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,817 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mali is White at 40.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.2%) and Black (16.7%). 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 Mali 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 Mali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.2% · 731
- Asian and Pacific Islander22.2% · 403
- Black or African American16.7% · 304
- Two or more races10.3% · 187
- Hispanic or Latino10.0% · 182
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Mali
Mali leans heavily female at 94.4% of total registrations, but 81 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mali as a male name
- Ranked #8,695 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (11 births)
Mali as a female name
- Ranked #3,609 in 2024
- 43 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (65 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mali leans strongly female. 1,620 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 189 male bearers (10.4%).
Popularity
Mali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mali from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 466 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mali remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mali 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 Mali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Malis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Mali, while Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mali
Mali is a feminine given name with roots tracing back to the Malian Empire, a historical West African state that existed from the 13th to the 17th century. The name is derived from the Bambara language, spoken by the Bambara people of Mali, and is believed to mean "hippopotamus." It is also associated with the Malian city of the same name, which served as the capital of the Mali Empire during its peak.
The earliest recorded use of the name Mali can be found in historical accounts and records from the Mali Empire era. One notable figure from this period was Mansa Musa, the 14th-century ruler of the Mali Empire, who is often referred to as the wealthiest person in history. During his reign, the Mali Empire reached its golden age, becoming a major center of trade, culture, and Islamic learning.
In more recent times, the name Mali has been carried by several notable individuals, including Mali Phonpadith, a Laotian singer and songwriter born in 1976. Another well-known Mali is Mali Ilieva, a Bulgarian singer and actress born in 1967.
In the world of literature, the name Mali appears in the works of Ismail Kadare, an Albanian novelist and poet. His novel "The Successor" features a character named Mali, who plays a significant role in the story.
Among historical figures, one can find Mali Ibn al-Walid, an 8th-century Arab general and governor who played a crucial role in the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. He is often referred to as "the Conqueror of Andalusia."
Another noteworthy figure is Mali Koromanović, a 15th-century Bosnian ruler and member of the Kotromanić dynasty, who ruled over the Kingdom of Bosnia from 1466 to 1471.
These examples demonstrate the rich history and cultural significance of the name Mali, tracing its origins back to the powerful Mali Empire and its influence across various regions and time periods.
People
Mali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mali 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
Mali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,424 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mali 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 240,698 US residents.
Is Mali a common name?
We classify Mali as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,449 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mali most popular?
The single biggest year for Mali was 2019, when 69 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mali 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 Mali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,817 people with the name Mali, or 0.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,089 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 Mali 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 Mali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mali leans strongly female. 1,620 people counted with this name were female (89.6%), compared with 189 male bearers (10.4%). 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 Mali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mali is White at 40.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.2%) and Black (16.7%). 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 Mali most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.2% (731 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 Mali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mali a female name?
Yes, 94.4% of people registered as Mali 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 Mali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mali 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 Mali 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 Mali?
You can see how many people share the name Mali on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.