Malaya
A girls’ name with no widely documented etymology — three syllables, given to 409 babies a year in the US.
How Malaya has moved
View as table
| Year | US rank |
|---|---|
| 2015 | #726 |
| 2016 | #666 |
| 2017 | #702 |
| 2018 | #736 |
| 2019 | #671 |
| 2020 | #669 |
| 2021 | #667 |
| 2022 | #710 |
| 2023 | #847 |
| 2024 | #813 |
| 2025 | #775 |
Malaya by the numbers
In 2025, 17 babies in England and Wales were named Malaya. In the US, 409 were, though that figure is from 2017, the most recent full year we hold.
For the size of the two countries, it is given several times more often in the US than in England and Wales.
Its American peak was 447 babies in 2014, making it a 2010s name.
What we can tell you about Malaya
Not every name has a meaning to trace. Plenty are coined rather than inherited — invented outright, blended from two names, or respelled from an older one — and where we cannot find an etymology we can stand behind, we would rather say so than make one up. What follows comes from the birth records themselves.
Spelled almost the same
Other names in the records within a letter or two of Malaya. Close spellings are not always related names, but they are usually worth seeing together.
Sounds like Malaya
Names that are said the same way as Malaya, however they are written. Sounding alike does not mean they share a history.
Names about as common as Malaya
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