Likely a modern variant of Malaya, meaning free
Malayia is a contemporary American coinage, most likely a stylized variant of the Tagalog word 'malaya' which means free. It may also be influenced by the phonetic sounds of names like Malaysia or Malia, reflecting a modern trend of adding melodic suffixes to established roots.
Less common today
Malayia isn't in the latest US Top 1000. It last peaked at #4,729 in 2013.
US births per 5-year period, 1990–present (SSA data).
