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Data story

Malaysian names on Wikidata

2,570 names in this reference are matched to at least one person on Wikidata, the open database behind Wikipedia. The figures count matches, not everyone who bears the name.

Names matched
2,570
10+ people
230
Top name
Muhammad
People in the list
12,527

The 20 given names matched most often

Muhammad is matched to 1,276 people, followed by Abdul (506) and Ahmad (354). Names that often form part of a full name sit at the top.

  1. 1.Muhammad 1,276
  2. 2.Abdul 506
  3. 3.Ahmad 354
  4. 4.Ismail 168
  5. 5.Mohamed 145
  6. 6.Abdullah 144
  7. 7.Abu 125
  8. 8.Hassan 119
  9. 9.Ibrahim 114
  10. 10.Nor 109
  11. 11.Yusof 100
  12. 12.Rahman 98
  13. 13.Aziz 97
  14. 14.Omar 84
  15. 15.Nur 82
  16. 16.Ali 82
  17. 17.Salleh 81
  18. 18.Hashim 75
  19. 19.Anuar 73
  20. 20.Bakar 70
Number of distinct Wikidata people matched to each name.

Surnames, syllables and Western names

Among Chinese names, the surname Tan is matched most often (46). Among Western names, Michael leads with 18 people.

Chinese surnames

  1. 1.Tan 46
  2. 2.Lim 40
  3. 3.Lee 29
  4. 4.Wong 21
  5. 5.Ong 18
  6. 6.Chan 13
  7. 7.Yap 11
  8. 8.Chong 10
  9. 9.Goh 10
  10. 10.Cheah 7

Chinese name syllables

  1. 1.Seng 17
  2. 2.Chin 14
  3. 3.Wei 14
  4. 4.Kee 12
  5. 5.Chong 11
  6. 6.Yee 11
  7. 7.Ah 10
  8. 8.Kim 10
  9. 9.Kok 10
  10. 10.Beng 9

Western names

  1. 1.Michael 18
  2. 2.Anthony 17
  3. 3.Sophia 13
  4. 4.Natasha 11
  5. 5.Diana 10
  6. 6.Eddie 9
  7. 7.Mary 9
  8. 8.Ann 8
  9. 9.Maria 8
  10. 10.Joshua 8

Most names are matched only once or twice

1,575 names are matched to just one person, and only 28 to 50 or more. The spread is very skewed: a handful of names hold most matches.

1: 1,575 1 1,575 2–4: 546 2–4 5–9: 219 5–9 10–49: 202 10–49 50+: 28 50+
Number of names by how many Wikidata people they are matched to (2,570 names).
People matchedNames
11,575
2–4546
5–9219
10–49202
50+28
Kind of nameMatchedShare
Given names2,125 / 4,84044%
Chinese name syllables445 / 47394%
Chinese surnames154 / 15699%

When these people were born

For context: Wikidata people with Malaysian citizenship were most often born in the 1980s. This describes who is on Wikidata, not how popular a name was in a decade.

  1. 1900s 94
  2. 1910s 160
  3. 1920s 272
  4. 1930s 420
  5. 1940s 743
  6. 1950s 954
  7. 1960s 1,045
  8. 1970s 1,140
  9. 1980s 1,447
  10. 1990s 1,400
  11. 2000s 527
  12. 2010s 41
  13. 2020s 3
Wikidata people with Malaysian citizenship by decade of birth (8,246 people with a birth year).

Sources

How these figures were computed

Wikidata is the open (CC0) database behind Wikipedia. When this dataset was built, each name was matched to Wikidata people with Malaysian citizenship (for some Chinese and Malay names, also Singapore and Brunei people) whose name contains it. The figure is the number of distinct people matched, not everyone who bears the name, and it depends on who has a Wikidata record. Indian names are rarely matched this way (8 of 1,427), so these charts do not compare categories. The birth-year histogram uses the 8,246 people with Malaysian citizenship who have a birth year on Wikidata, from 1900.

Last updated .

How to cite

Free to quote with a link to this page. Suggested citation:

MalaysianNames (malaysiannames.com). “Malaysian Names on Wikidata: 2,570 Names Matched”. https://malaysiannames.com/en/data-stories/malaysian-names-on-wikidata/. Updated .

Frequently asked questions

Is this the number of Malaysians with the name?

No. It counts only people who have a Wikidata record, such as politicians, athletes and artists. The real number of people with a name is far larger and is not published.

Why are Muhammad and Abdul so high?

Both often appear as part of a full name (Muhammad Hafiz, Abdul Rahim), so one person can be matched to several names, such as Muhammad and Hafiz.

Does this page list people?

No. We show only the number of matches for each name, never individuals.

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