Malyk
Of Arabic origin meaning "little king" or "princely".
Name Census estimates that about 391 living Americans carry the first name Malyk. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Malyk today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malyk births was 1997 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malyk. 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 Malyk with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
391
~ 1 in 876,610 Americans
Peak year
1997
29 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,055
Tracked since 1995
Census
Malyk in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 218 people with the first name Malyk, which placed it at #36,419 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
#36,419
National first-name rank
People counted
218
218 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malyk
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malyk is Black at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.8%) and Hispanic (10.6%). 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 Malyk 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 Malyk at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American69.3% · 151
- Two or more races13.8% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino10.6% · 23
- White6.4% · 14
Popularity
Malyk: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malyk 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 134 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Malyk remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malyk 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 Malyk during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Malyks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Malyk
The name Malyk is believed to have its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly in the languages spoken in Eastern Europe and Russia. It is a diminutive form of the name Malysh, which means "little one" or "tiny one" in Russian and some other Slavic tongues.
One of the earliest known references to the name Malyk can be found in the Veliky Novgorod birch bark manuscripts, a collection of writings dating back to the 11th and 15th centuries. These manuscripts were written on pieces of birch bark and provide valuable insights into the everyday life and language of medieval Rus'.
In the 14th century, there are records of a monk named Malyk who lived at the Valaam Monastery, located on the islands of Lake Ladoga in the present-day Republic of Karelia, Russia. He is believed to have been a respected figure within the monastic community and contributed to the spiritual and cultural life of the region.
Another notable figure bearing the name Malyk was Malyk Bagriyev, a 17th-century Crimean Tatar poet and scholar. He was known for his literary works, which explored themes of love, spirituality, and the natural world. His poems were widely circulated and admired in the Crimean Khanate and beyond.
In the 19th century, Malyk Aytbakiev was a prominent Kazakh poet and philosopher. He was born in 1834 and is renowned for his contributions to the development of Kazakh literature and his insightful philosophical writings.
The name Malyk also appears in historical records from other Slavic regions, such as Ukraine and Belarus. For instance, Malyk Vasylenko was a Ukrainian Cossack leader who played a significant role in the Khmelnytsky Uprising against Polish rule in the mid-17th century.
While the name Malyk has its roots in the Slavic world, it has also been adopted and used in various cultures and communities around the globe. Its diminutive and endearing nature has made it a popular choice for parents seeking a name that conveys a sense of warmth and affection.
People
Malyk + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malyk 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
Malyk: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malyk?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 391 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malyk 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 876,610 US residents.
Is Malyk a common name?
We classify Malyk as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 396 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malyk most popular?
The single biggest year for Malyk was 1997, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malyk is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Malyk in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 218 people with the name Malyk, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,419 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 Malyk 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 Malyk?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malyk appears almost entirely male. Of the 215 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Malyk?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malyk is Black at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.8%) and Hispanic (10.6%). 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 Malyk most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Malyk in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (151 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 Malyk in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malyk a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Malyk 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 Malyk still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malyk 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 Malyk 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 Malyk?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.