Malichi
A Hebrew name meaning "my messenger" or "messenger of God".
Name Census estimates that about 510 living Americans carry the first name Malichi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Malichi today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malichi births was 2004 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malichi. 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
510
~ 1 in 672,067 Americans
Peak year
2004
37 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,446
Tracked since 1994
Census
Malichi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 678 people with the first name Malichi, which placed it at #16,581 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
#16,581
National first-name rank
People counted
678
678 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malichi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malichi is Black at 39.7%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Malichi 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 Malichi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.7% · 269
- White32.4% · 220
- Hispanic or Latino13.1% · 89
- Two or more races10.9% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 11
Popularity
Malichi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malichi from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 232 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malichi 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 Malichi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Malichis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Malichi
The name Malichi has its roots in the Hebrew language and culture, originating from the biblical name Malachi, which means "my messenger" or "messenger of God." The name is derived from the Hebrew words "mal'akh" meaning "messenger" and "Yah" referring to God.
The name Malachi is found in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it is the name of one of the twelve minor prophets and the last book of the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Malachi is believed to have been written around the 5th century BCE, making it one of the earliest recorded instances of the name.
In ancient times, the name Malachi was primarily used by Jewish communities, particularly those in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. It was a name imbued with religious significance, reflecting the importance of messengers and prophets in Hebrew tradition.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Malichi was Malichi ben Judah, a Jewish scholar and poet who lived in the 12th century CE in Spain. He is known for his work in biblical exegesis and his contributions to the study of Hebrew grammar.
Another notable figure with the name Malichi was Malichi ibn al-Hariri, an 11th-century Jewish philosopher and physician from Spain. He was renowned for his writings on medicine and philosophy, and his works were widely studied in the medieval Islamic world.
In the 16th century, Malichi Reuben was a prominent Jewish scholar and kabbalist from Italy. He was known for his teachings on the mystical aspects of Judaism and his commentaries on the Zohar, a foundational text of the Kabbalah.
The name Malichi also appears in the historical records of the British Isles. Malichi Vander, a Dutch-born merchant, was one of the earliest settlers in the British colony of Virginia in the early 17th century, arriving in 1619.
In the realm of literature, Malichi Dugard was an English writer and educator who lived in the 17th century. He is best known for his work titled "A System of General Geography," which was an influential textbook on geography during that time.
While the name Malichi has its origins in Hebrew and Jewish traditions, it has been adopted by various cultures and communities over time, with variations in spelling and pronunciation. However, its connection to the biblical prophet Malachi and the notion of being a messenger remains a central aspect of its meaning and significance.
People
Malichi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malichi 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
Malichi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malichi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 510 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malichi 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 672,067 US residents.
Is Malichi a common name?
We classify Malichi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 516 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malichi most popular?
The single biggest year for Malichi was 2004, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malichi 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 Malichi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 678 people with the name Malichi, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,581 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 Malichi 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 Malichi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malichi leans strongly male. 662 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Malichi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malichi is Black at 39.7%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Malichi most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Malichi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.7% (269 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 Malichi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malichi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Malichi 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 Malichi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malichi 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 Malichi 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 Americans are named Malichi?
Want to know how many people share the name Malichi? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.