Maliya
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "garland" or "jasmine flower".
Name Census estimates that about 2,462 living Americans carry the first name Maliya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maliya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maliya births was 2009 (192 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maliya. 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 Maliya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Maliya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 139,218 Americans
Peak year
2009
192 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,993
Tracked since 1994
Census
Maliya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,791 people with the first name Maliya, which placed it at #8,160 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
#8,160
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,791 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
38.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maliya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maliya is Black at 38.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (19.0%) and White (17.4%). 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 Maliya 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 Maliya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American38.9% · 697
- Two or more races19.0% · 340
- White17.4% · 311
- Hispanic or Latino17.3% · 310
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.9% · 106
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 27
Popularity
Maliya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maliya from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,256 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Maliya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maliya 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 Maliya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maliyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Maliya, while Louisiana, Colorado, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maliya
The given name Maliya has its roots in the Sanskrit language, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It traces back to ancient Hindu culture and the Sanskrit word "malya," which means "garland" or "wreath." The name is believed to have been in use as early as the 1st century CE, during the classical period of Sanskrit literature.
In Hindu mythology, garlands were often associated with gods, goddesses, and sacred rituals, symbolizing purity, beauty, and divine blessings. The name Maliya may have been bestowed upon children as a way to invoke these auspicious qualities and express a connection to the spiritual realm.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maliya can be found in the ancient Sanskrit text, the Mahabharata, which is an epic tale dating back to the 3rd century BCE. In this work, a character named Maliya is mentioned, though little is known about their specific role or significance.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Maliya. Queen Maliya Bahen of Gujarat, India, ruled in the 15th century CE and was known for her patronage of the arts and architecture. Maliya Sagar, a renowned Indian musician and composer, lived during the 16th century CE and made significant contributions to the development of classical Indian music.
In the 18th century, Maliya Kathak was a celebrated Indian dancer and choreographer who helped preserve and promote the Kathak dance form. Maliya Acharya, born in 1825 CE, was a respected Sanskrit scholar and author who wrote extensively on Hindu philosophy and literature.
More recently, Maliya Rashid, born in 1950, is a Pakistani politician and women's rights activist who has served as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and has advocated for gender equality and social justice.
While the name Maliya has its origins in ancient Sanskrit and Hindu culture, it has transcended its traditional roots and gained popularity across various regions and communities, likely due to its melodic sound and positive connotations.
People
Maliya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maliya 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
Maliya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maliya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,462 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maliya 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 139,218 US residents.
Is Maliya a common name?
We classify Maliya as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,487 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maliya most popular?
The single biggest year for Maliya was 2009, when 192 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maliya is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maliya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,791 people with the name Maliya, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,160 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 Maliya 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 Maliya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maliya appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,785 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Maliya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maliya is Black at 38.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (19.0%) and White (17.4%). 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 Maliya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Maliya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.9% (697 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 Maliya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maliya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maliya 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 Maliya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maliya 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 Maliya 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 Maliya?
Find out how many people share the name Maliya on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.