Malina
A name that is also a word: malina, the raspberry. It stays rare, so most Poles have never met one, though it reaches more newborn girls now than it did a generation ago.
Malina Pronunciation
Malina is pronounced mah-LEE-nah (/maˈlina/).
What Malina means
Where Malina comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Malina comes from a Slavic word for the raspberry, the fruit that shares the name exactly. In Polish, malina is still the ordinary word you use at a market stall. The name and the fruit have never drifted apart, so a girl called Malina wears a plain, edible meaning that every Polish speaker recognizes.
The root reaches across the Slavic languages. Czech, Slovak, Serbian, and Russian all keep some form of malina for the same dark berry, which points back to a common Proto-Slavic source rather than any one nation's invention. That breadth is why the name sits comfortably from Warsaw to Belgrade.
The diminutive is malinka. It is the softer form a family reaches for, a small berry rather than the whole bush.
Picture the class register on the first day of school. The teacher reads down the list and reaches Malina, and no one needs the meaning explained. Short. Everyone already knows the fruit. The name hands its bearer the raspberry, malina, and the fondness Poland holds for it.
When Malina celebrates name day
Malina appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 24 August.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Malina
1 in 15367 women in Poland is named Malina. 1,467 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #803 among female names.
Malina's popularity over time
52 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #346 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2002.
Where Malina is most popular
Malina is most popular in Masovian, 102% above the national average (136 girls born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+74%) and Łódź (+54%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Lublin, 78% and 74% below average respectively.
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Masovian136 girls born+102%
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West Pomeranian28 girls born+74%
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Łódź37 girls born+54%
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Pomeranian41 girls born+46%
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Lower Silesian38 girls born+27%
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Silesian34 girls born−21%
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Lubusz7 girls born−26%
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Opole6 girls born−32%
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Greater Poland28 girls born−32%
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Warmian-Masurian8 girls born−41%
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Podlaskie7 girls born−44%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian10 girls born−52%
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Świętokrzyskie5 girls born−53%
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Lesser Poland16 girls born−63%
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Lublin5 girls born−74%
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Subcarpathian5 girls born−78%
Malina as a middle name
Malina is a first name for 1,467 women in Poland and a middle name for another 655, a 69/31 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 288th, between Louise (656) and Wanessa (654).
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#286 Berenika660
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#287 Louise656
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#288 Malina655
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#289 Wanessa654
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#290 Mary652