girl's name
Amalia
ah-MAH-lee-ah
- Origin Germanic
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 23,935
the United States
#568
2025 births
Amalia is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "work" or "industrious," from the same root as Amelia and quite separate from the Latin for love. It ranks 134th in France and 568th in the United States, and it is rising.
- Amalia is a name of Germanic origin.
- Peaked in 2023, when 576 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 6,255 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Amalia over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 140 |
| 1890s | 203 |
| 1900s | 209 |
| 1910s | 559 |
| 1920s | 905 |
| 1930s | 543 |
| 1940s | 514 |
| 1950s | 659 |
| 1960s | 711 |
| 1970s | 866 |
| 1980s | 1,057 |
| 1990s | 1,367 |
| 2000s | 1,977 |
| 2010s | 3,523 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,245 |
What Amalia means
Amalia means work, effort or industriousness, from the Germanic amal. The sense is labor as a virtue rather than a burden, and it is quite separate from the Latin amare, to love, which the name is constantly assumed to come from.
Where Amalia comes from
Amalia comes from the Germanic amal, meaning work or effort, and was the name of a Gothic royal dynasty — the Amali, from whom Theodoric the Great claimed descent. It is the source of Amelia by way of the Latinized Amalia, and the two are the same name; Amelia's frequent gloss as beloved is a confusion with the unrelated Latin amare and with Emilia, which comes from the Roman family name Aemilius. Amalia is standard across Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Romania and the Netherlands, where Catharina-Amalia is the current heir to the throne, and it has been a royal name in several of those. The Portuguese fado singer Amália Rodrigues carried it internationally in the twentieth century.
Amalia in use
Amalia ranks 134th in France with about 405 births in 2025 and 568th in the United States with 530 births, and it is rising in our data with a peak in 2023. Our records carry it from 1880. It appears in every market we hold, which is unusual — 505th in England and Wales, 503rd in Scotland, 793rd in Ireland — and Amelia, the same name, ranks far higher in all the English-speaking ones.
How popular is Amalia?
In 2025, Amalia was given to 530 babies in the United States, ranking #568 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Amalia is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Amalia is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Amàlia | Amàlia is a rare spelling of Amalia, written with a grave accent and recorded about 55 times, mostly in France. | 55 |
| Amalïa | Amalïa is a rare spelling of Amalia, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 25 times, mostly in France. | 25 |
Names that peaked alongside Amalia
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Amalia also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Amalia over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Amalia in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Amalia
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Amalia — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Amalia
What does the name Amalia mean?
Amalia means "work" or "industrious," from the Germanic amal.
Is Amalia the same as Amelia?
Yes — Amelia developed from the Latinized Amalia. They are one name.
Does Amelia mean beloved?
No. That is a confusion with the Latin amare and with Emilia, which is a separate Roman family name.
How popular is Amalia?
134th in France and 568th in the United States.
Is Amalia a girl's or a boy's name?
Amalia is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Amalia?
Amalia has 3 syllables.
Is Amalia a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Amalia currently ranks #134 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.