Malena
Meaning
variant of Magdalena, meaning 'of Magdala', a place in the Bible
The formal names behind Malena
Malena is an established short form of this name.
Magdalena · Polish origin · woman from Magdala (biblical)
Malena in song
Malena
Aníbal Troilo con Francisco Fiorentino (1942)
The tango about a woman who sings like no one else, and to this day nobody agrees on who the real Malena was.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Malena peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
2,264 people · the #4,705 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 90,909 · median age 28
Among people named Malena living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 60 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Malena
Most people given the name Malena in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Malena deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Malena truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Malena fits with your family’s names and surname.
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