Malaya

What Malaya means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Malaya yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #774 vs #1,719 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Malaya?

US: Steady: #725 in 2015, #774 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #2195 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2021, when 447 girls got the name (#664 that year). First in the US records in 1977.

How common

• About 1 in 4,579 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 14,899 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NM (1.07 per 1,000 girls), WV (0.99 per 1,000 girls), MS (0.67 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Malaya is #774 in the US and #1719 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Malaya were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Maliyah467 US · 20 E&W
• Malayah223 US · 7 E&W
• Milaya90 US · 4 E&W
• Maliya53 US · 8 E&W
• Malaiya34 US
• Milayah30 US · 4 E&W
• Maleyah24 US
• Malaiyah23 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Malaya

Girls

• Sofia#9“wisdom, especially divine wisdom”^*
• Avery#37Editor’s note Used for both: 82% of US babies named Avery in 2025 were girls
• Piper#155Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #67 in 2015, #155 in 2025
• Serenity#129Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #129 vs #997 in 2025
• Mia#6Editor’s note Steady in the US: #6 in 2015 and #6 in 2025. About 1 in 150 US girls in the 2025 records
• Bella#136Form of Isabel, meaning “my God is an oath”^*

For a brother

• Kayden#135Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1989, with 6 babies
• Jaxon#115Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #44 in 2015, #115 in 2025
• Finn#206“the Sami”^*
• Josiah#54Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #54 vs #226 in 2025
• Camden#205“enclosure + valley”^*
• Damian#109“to tame”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Malaya’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.