Official JPN data

The most popular names in Malaysia

In the latest JPN tables (births in the 2010s), the #1 names are Muhammad and Nur (Malay table), Jayden and Chloe (Chinese table) and Sharvin and Harshini (Indian table). JPN publishes the top 10 names for each sex, for every decade of birth, in Malay, Chinese and Indian tables. Every percentage is a share of that decade’s top-10 total.

Popular names map, 1940s–2010s

Decades: 8
JPN tables: 6
Distinct entries: 290
Muhammad · Malay boys: 6.2% → 70.2%

Muhammad was 6.2% of the Malay boys’ top-10 total in the 1980s and 70.2% in the 2010s. Every percentage here is a share of that decade’s top-10 total, because the totals change between decades.

Each table’s ranks, decade by decade

Malay table · boys

Ranks 1–10; coloured: the 2010s top 3. Full chart

Malay table · girls

Ranks 1–10; coloured: the 2010s top 3. Full chart

Chinese table · boys

Ranks 1–10; coloured: the 2010s top 3. Full chart

Chinese table · girls

Ranks 1–10; coloured: the 2010s top 3. Full chart

Indian table · boys

Ranks 1–10; coloured: the 2010s top 3. Full chart

Indian table · girls

Ranks 1–10; coloured: the 2010s top 3. Full chart

The #1 entry of every decade

Decade	Malay	Chinese	Indian
’40s	Ismail19%	Tan16%	Subramaniam25%
’50s	Ismail18%	Lee15%	Subramaniam28%
’60s	Ismail15%	Chee Keong21%	Subramaniam22%
’70s	Azman14%	Chee Keong22%	Saravanan18%
’80s	Mohd Faizal18%	Chee Keong18%	Saravanan22%
’90s	Muhammad19%	Kelvin14%	Dinesh16%
’00s	Muhammad42%	Bryan14%	Sharvin23%
’10s	Muhammad70%	Jayden28%	Sharvin18%

Boys: each table’s #1 entry and its share of the top-10 total.

Decade	Malay	Chinese	Indian
’40s	Fatimah23%	Tan17%	Muniamah22%
’50s	Fatimah18%	Ah Moi18%	Muniamah18%
’60s	Rohani12%	Siew Lan13%	Santhi18%
’70s	Norhayati14%	Mei Ling15%	Saraswathy16%
’80s	Noraini16%	Mei Ling15%	Kavitha19%
’90s	Nur Hidayah14%	Michelle14%	Shalini19%
’00s	Nur37%	Xin Yi19%	Shalini19%
’10s	Nur69%	Chloe21%	Harshini18%

Girls: each table’s #1 entry and its share of the top-10 total.

Dropped out, then came back

Only 6 entries left the top 10 and returned in a later decade.

Ahmad · Malay boys1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 2010s
Mohamad · Malay boys1940s, 1950s, 2000s, 2010s
Tan · Chinese boys1940s, 1950s, 2010s
Tan · Chinese girls1940s, 1950s, 1990s, 2010s
Lee · Chinese girls1940s, 1950s, 1990s
Lim · Chinese girls1940s, 1950s, 1990s

Explore the JPN data

By decade
Six tables per decade, with who rose, fell and dropped out.
40 · 50 · 60 · 70 · 80 · 90 · 00 · 10
Name elements
Mohd to Muhammad, Nor- to Nur, and Siti.
Spelling shifts
10 spelling families, such as Siti Aishah and Siti Aisyah.
Generations
Grandparents’, parents’ and children’s names side by side.

The top 24 popular names

Ordered by registrations in the 2010s, then the total across all decades.

See all popular names (255) → Popular boy names 123 Popular girl names 132

The Malay, Chinese and Indian tables are JPN’s own breakdown; they describe the data, not people. Source: JPN via data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0)

How to cite

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

MalaysianNames (malaysiannames.com). “Popular Names in Malaysia: JPN Data 1940s–2010s”. https://malaysiannames.com/en/popular-names/. Updated 26 October 2026. Data: JPN via data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0), last updated 2023-07-26.

Download the JPN top-10 tables we use (decade, table, sex, rank, name, count, share of the top-10 total):

CSV, all decades (1940s–2010s)

Source: JPN via data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0)

Frequently asked questions

Where do these figures come from?

From the JPN popular-name tables published on data.gov.my (CC BY 4.0): the top 10 names per sex for each decade of birth from the 1940s, in Malay, Chinese and Indian tables.

Why percentages, not counts?

Top-10 totals change a lot between decades, so we compare each name’s share of that decade’s total, not raw counts.

Why does my name have no figure?

JPN publishes only the top 10. A name outside that list has no public figure, and we do not estimate one.

Do the Malay, Chinese and Indian tables describe a person?

No. They are JPN’s own breakdown of the data. Anyone can bear the same name.

Are figures after the 2010s available?

Not in this source yet. The JPN tables on data.gov.my cover decades of birth from the 1940s to the 2010s (last updated on data.gov.my: 2023-07-26). We do not estimate figures for newer years.