Mahlon
Masculine · “sickly”
Mahlon is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 5,660 boys against 23 girls since 1880.
Mahlon is a name the book of Ruth gives to a man who dies in the second verse he appears in, and whose name may have been telling you that all along. Biblical naming sometimes works like that, and this is one of the clearer cases.
How old is the name Mahlon?
Mahlon was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mahlon alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 3,000 people named Mahlon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mahlon most popular?
Mahlon peaked in 1896, reaching #481 nationally. Today it ranks #2833, 2,352 places below that high. See the whole 1896 chart.
Where it comes from
From Machlon to Mahlon
The story of Mahlon
Mahlon is Naomi's elder son and Ruth's first husband, and he dies in Moab along with his brother and their father, which is the disaster that sets the whole book in motion. His name is barely used in the text after that. English Puritans, reading the entire Hebrew scriptures rather than a lectionary, took up names from every corner of it including this one, and Mahlon crossed to America with them. It stayed in ordinary use through the nineteenth century, particularly in Quaker and Methodist families.
Meaningscholars disagree
sickly, weak
Hebrew Machlon is generally read from chalah, 'to be weak or sick' — which fits the story, since he and his brother both die young in a foreign country. Scholars are divided on whether that is the real etymology or a name chosen by the writer to suit the plot; the brother's name, Chilion, is read as 'wasting away' by the same logic. Either way it is a name whose meaning is bound up with the narrative rather than standing outside it.
How the name formed
- Machlon
- Mahlon
Related forms: Machlon
Pronouncing Mahlon
MAY-lun
Two syllables, stress on the first, the h silent in the usual American saying. Hebrew sounds the ch as a throat consonant and says mach-LON with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Mahlon
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191995 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #481reached in 1896
- Change vs 2022
- −15.4%44 in 2025, from 52
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mahlon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Machlon in Hebrew — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio.
Mahlons among us
people named Mahlon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 38,820 born in 2025 was named Mahlon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Mahlon sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Mahlon is headed
Mahlon should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Mahlon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mahlon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented biblical name with a real place in a well-known story.
- Mal and Lon are both natural short forms and Lon has an American record of its own.
- Uncommon without being invented, and easy to say once heard.
- Its likely meaning is 'sickly', which is worth knowing before rather than after.
- The h is silent in English and present in the Hebrew, so the two sayings differ.
- It carries a strong nineteenth-century American flavor, which reads as either warm or dated.
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What they receive
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Mahlon
Masculine · #2833 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mahlons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,000 people named Mahlon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mahlon in 2025?
- Mahlon ranks #2833 among US boy names in 2025, with 44 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mahlon?
- About 1 in every 38,820 US boys born in 2025 was named Mahlon — 44 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mahlon with classmates?
- Mahlon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mahlon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Odysseus#2833 · Josef#2833 · Bayron#2833 · Abriel#2833 · Ward#2833 · Alain#2833 · Jarvis#2833 · Braiden#2833
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mahlon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mahlon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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