Malkia
Of Arabic origin, meaning "queen" or "sovereign ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 254 living Americans carry the first name Malkia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Malkia today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malkia births was 1975 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malkia. 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
254
~ 1 in 1,349,427 Americans
Peak year
1975
25 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,560
Tracked since 1971
Census
Malkia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 285 people with the first name Malkia, which placed it at #30,528 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
#30,528
National first-name rank
People counted
285
285 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malkia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malkia is Black at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.2%) and White (3.9%). 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 Malkia 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 Malkia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.0% · 248
- Two or more races4.2% · 12
- White3.9% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Malkia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malkia from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 123 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malkia 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 Malkia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Malkia
The name Malkia has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, derived from the word "malik," which means "king" or "ruler." The name gained popularity during the medieval period in the Islamic world, particularly in regions like the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Malkia can be found in the 9th century, when it was mentioned in historical texts as the name of a princess from the Abbasid Caliphate. This indicates that the name was in use among the nobility and ruling classes of the Islamic world during that time.
In the 12th century, the name gained further prominence when Malkia al-Hurra, a renowned female ruler of the Marinid dynasty in Morocco, ascended to power. Her reign lasted from 1195 to 1228, and she is remembered for her military prowess and leadership skills, which were remarkable for a woman in that era.
Another notable figure with the name Malkia was Malkia al-Saida, a 13th-century Sufi mystic and poet from Yemen. Her works, which focused on spirituality and devotion, were widely celebrated and continue to be studied by scholars of Islamic literature.
In the 14th century, Malkia al-Zahira, a powerful queen of the Zaydi state in Yemen, left a lasting impact on the region's history. She ruled from 1350 to 1370 and is remembered for her efforts in promoting education and cultural development during her reign.
Fast-forwarding to the modern era, Malkia Audrianna Jones, born in 1991, is an American professional basketball player who has represented the United States in international competitions, including the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
While the name Malkia has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in Africa and among those with connections to the Islamic faith or heritage.
People
Malkia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malkia 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
Malkia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malkia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 254 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malkia 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 1,349,427 US residents.
Is Malkia a common name?
We classify Malkia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 269 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malkia most popular?
The single biggest year for Malkia was 1975, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malkia is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Malkia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 285 people with the name Malkia, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,528 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 Malkia 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 Malkia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malkia leans strongly female. 275 people counted with this name were female (96.5%), compared with 10 male bearers (3.5%). 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 Malkia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malkia is Black at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.2%) and White (3.9%). 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 Malkia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Malkia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (248 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 Malkia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malkia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Malkia 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 Malkia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malkia 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 Malkia 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 Malkia?
You can see how many people share the name Malkia on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.