# Malik (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/malik/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Arabic |
| Meaning | “leader” |
| Pronunciation | /məˈlik/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 49,866 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 49,607 / 259 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 2,456, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Arabic مَالِك (mālik) and مَلِك (malik, “Leader”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 30 | 3,635 |
| 1996 | 24 | 4,402 |
| 1997 | 17 | 5,783 |
| 1998 | 16 | 6,255 |
| 1999 | 13 | 7,528 |
| 2000 | 14 | 7,423 |
| 2001 | 7 | 12,924 |
| 2003 | 6 | 15,046 |
| 2004 | 5 | 17,792 |
| 2005 | 7 | 13,937 |
| 2007 | 10 | 11,337 |
| 2010 | 9 | 11,885 |
| 2011 | 7 | 14,263 |
| 2012 | 5 | 18,561 |
| 2014 | 6 | 15,840 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 988 | 322 |
| 2012 | 913 | 340 |
| 2013 | 940 | 341 |
| 2014 | 842 | 372 |
| 2015 | 862 | 375 |
| 2016 | 844 | 382 |
| 2017 | 869 | 378 |
| 2018 | 874 | 373 |
| 2019 | 886 | 363 |
| 2020 | 838 | 373 |
| 2021 | 810 | 392 |
| 2022 | 808 | 395 |
| 2023 | 835 | 383 |
| 2024 | 740 | 428 |
| 2025 | 724 | 437 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 3 | 4,373 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 77 | 479 |
| 2012 | 90 | 440 |
| 2013 | 91 | 440 |
| 2014 | 83 | 475 |
| 2015 | 97 | 423 |
| 2016 | 81 | 501 |
| 2017 | 75 | 522 |
| 2018 | 104 | 410 |
| 2019 | 109 | 399 |
| 2020 | 109 | 390 |
| 2021 | 118 | 378 |
| 2022 | 141 | 317 |
| 2023 | 172 | 271 |
| 2024 | 177 | 264 |
| 2025 | 160 | 282 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: مَلِك
- Russian: Мали́к, Ма́лик

## People named Malik

- Malik ibn Anas, Arab Islamic jurist, theologian and hadith traditionist (711–795)
- Malik-Shah I, During his rule as the Sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1072 to 1092, Sultan Malik-Shah I 
- Malik Tillman, German-American soccer player
- Malik Beasley, American basketball player (born 1996)
- Malik al-Ashtar, Arab military commander (died 658)
- Malik Monk, American basketball player (born 1998)
- Malik Kafur, aka Taj al-Din Izz al-Dawla, a prominent eunuch slave-general of the Delhi Sultanate
- Malik Ghulam Muhammad, 3rd Governor General of Pakistan (1895-1956)
- Malik Zidi, French actor
- Malik Yoba, American actor
- Malik Rose, American basketball player (born 1974)
- Malik Allen, basketball player

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.