Malke
A feminine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "queen" or "royalty".
Name Census estimates that about 26 living Americans carry the first name Malke. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Malke today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malke births was 1981 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malke. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Malke. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
26
~ 1 in 13,182,859 Americans
Peak year
1981
8 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
1981 SSA rank
#7,841
Tracked since 1952
Census
Malke in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 105 people with the first name Malke, which placed it at #52,717 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
#52,717
National first-name rank
People counted
105
105 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malke
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malke is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Black (6.7%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Malke 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 Malke at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.6% · 92
- Black or African American6.7% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 3
- Two or more races1.9% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 1
Popularity
Malke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malke from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 13 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malke 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 Malke during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Malkes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Malke
The given name Malke originated from the Yiddish language, which is a dialect of High German that was spoken by Ashkenazi Jewish communities throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The name Malke is a diminutive form of the Hebrew name Malka, which means "queen" or "sovereign." This name has its roots in ancient Semitic languages and can be traced back to the Biblical period.
In the Jewish tradition, the name Malke is often associated with the concept of royalty and nobility. It is believed to have been derived from the Hebrew word "melekh," which translates to "king." The name Malke was commonly given to Jewish girls in hopes that they would grow up to be strong, confident, and respected leaders within their communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Malke can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. In the Talmud, there is a reference to a woman named Malke, the daughter of Rabbi Yehoshua. This reference dates back to the 2nd century CE, indicating that the name was in use during the early years of Rabbinic Judaism.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Malke. One of the most famous was Malke Locker (1888-1981), a Yiddish actress and comedian who was widely renowned for her performances on the Yiddish stage in Europe and the United States during the early 20th century.
Another notable Malke was Malke Pollak (1897-1942), a Polish-Jewish educator and social worker who dedicated her life to helping underprivileged children in Warsaw. Tragically, she was murdered in the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust.
In the 19th century, Malke Shapiro (1830-1899) was a prominent Jewish philanthropist and activist who worked tirelessly to improve the living conditions of impoverished Jewish communities in Russia and Poland.
The name Malke also appears in literary works, such as the Yiddish novel "The Family Mashber" by Isaac Bashevis Singer, where one of the characters is named Malke.
Malke Shmerler (1894-1942) was a Polish-Jewish educator and writer who made significant contributions to the field of Yiddish literature and education before her life was cut short in the Holocaust.
While the name Malke may not be as common today as it once was, it remains a significant part of Jewish cultural heritage, carrying with it a rich history and a strong association with leadership, strength, and resilience.
People
Malke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malke 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
Malke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malke 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 13,182,859 US residents.
Is Malke a common name?
We classify Malke as "Very Rare". It ranks above 44.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 30 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malke most popular?
The single biggest year for Malke was 1981, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malke is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Malke in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 105 people with the name Malke, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,717 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 Malke 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 Malke?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malke leans strongly female. 94 people counted with this name were female (92.2%), compared with 8 male bearers (7.8%). 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 Malke?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malke is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Black (6.7%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Malke most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Malke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.6% (92 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 Malke in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malke a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Malke 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 Malke still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malke 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 Malke 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 Malke?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.