Humanverse

Malachi vs Malaynah

American parents have registered 66,048 Malachis since 1880, against 82 Malaynahs. Malachi is still ahead, with 2,701 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Malachi against Malaynah, 1880 to 2025 0 800 1.6k 2.4k 3.2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Malachi Malaynah

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Malachi has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2019, when Malachi had 2,464 and Malaynah had 18.

Side by side

  Malachi Malaynah
Total US births 66,04882
Most in one year 2,79018
Babies in 2025 2,7019
Estimated living today 64,00080
Median age today 134
Peak year 20062019
Best rank 150th boys6,414th girls
Rank in 2025 134th10,107th
First recorded 18802019
Girls / boys 290 / 65,75882 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Malachis alive today are over 13; half the Malaynahs are over 4. That is 9 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Malachi and Malaynah.