Malka

Meaning of Malka

Malka is a feminine forename rooted in biblical Hebrew, derived from the triliteral consonantal base M-L-K that denotes sovereignty; with the productive -a(h) feminine ending, the lexical value shifts from melekh “king” to “queen,” a title invoked in rabbinic Aramaic as well as in medieval liturgical poetry. Transmitted through Yiddish-speaking communities with virtually unchanged phonetics, the name reached Anglo-American usage alongside early-twentieth-century Jewish immigration and has since exhibited a low-frequency yet continuous presence in U.S. vital-statistics data. Between 1950 and 2024 annual occurrences have moved within a narrow band—typically fifty to three hundred registrations—corresponding to ranks in the 650–900 range; the most recent figures indicate a gradual ascent, from rank 773 in 2020 to 689 in 2024. Orthographic stability (Malka outnumbers Malkah or Malke by a wide margin) and the resilient pronunciation MAHL-kah (/ˈmɑlkɑ/) underscore its resistance to assimilationist shifts. Consequently, Malka today serves both as a marker of Jewish cultural continuity and as an understated option for parents who favor compact, etymologically transparent names with historical gravitas.