Names in numbers
Data stories
Each story is a run of charts computed straight from this reference’s data and the JPN tables, with sources and a methods note. Free to quote with a link to the page.
- Data stories
- 5
- Names in the reference
- 6,603
- JPN decades
- 8
- Quiz questions
- 12
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Data story
The sound of Malaysian names
46% of girls’ names end in -a
What do Malaysian names sound like? Endings, syllables and first letters of 4,073 names, plus the first letters of the JPN tables decade by decade, in charts.
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Data story
Malaysian names in four scripts
38 names in three or more scripts
How many Malaysian names are written in Arabic script, Chinese characters, Tamil and Devanagari? Counts, first letters and 38 names in three or more scripts.
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Data story
One name, many spellings
36 spelling pairs with the same meaning
Yusof or Yusuf, Farida or Faridah, Ishak or Ishaq: 36 spelling pairs with the same meaning in this reference, and the sy, q and z patterns in the JPN tables by decade.
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Data story
The most common meanings in Malaysian names
683 names about faith
The meaning themes found most often across 3,378 sourced names: faith, light, kindness and more, by language of origin and theme pairing, in charts.
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Data story
Malaysian names on Wikidata
Muhammad: 1,276 people on Wikidata
The names borne most often by Malaysians on Wikidata: Muhammad (1,276), Abdul and Ahmad, plus surnames and Western names, in charts.
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Name quiz
Popular names quiz: guess the decade
12 questions from the JPN tables
A 12-question popular names quiz: see the top five names of one JPN table and guess the decade, from the 1940s to the 2010s. Answers are checked instantly, with JPN figures.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the figures in these stories come from?
From the name records in this reference (sourced meanings and syllables, recorded spellings and scripts), the JPN popular-name tables via data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0). Every figure is recomputed each time the site is built.
Can I quote these charts?
Yes. Please credit MalaysianNames.com with a link to the story page, and the original data source (JPN or Wikidata) named on the page.
Do these stories describe anyone’s ethnicity or religion?
No. Scripts, language of origin, spellings and meaning themes describe the name itself. Names are shared across communities.