Malcolm
Masculine · “Devotee of Saint Columba”
Malcolm is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 70,209 boys against 119 girls since 1880.
Malcolm comes out of the Gaelic-speaking world as a devotee's name — a title given to followers of Saint Columba, the sixth-century monk of Iona. Four kings of Scotland carried it, and Shakespeare put one of them on stage at the end of Macbeth. It has been in continuous use ever since, and still lands easily in an American classroom: two clean syllables, stress on the first, nothing to explain.
How old is the name Malcolm?
Malcolm was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Malcolm alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 48,500 people named Malcolm are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Malcolm most popular?
Malcolm peaked in 1928, reaching #205 nationally. Today it ranks #272, 67 places below that high. See the whole 1928 chart.
Where it comes from
From Columba to Malcolm
The story of Malcolm
The Gaelic form was Máel Coluim, borne by monks and then by kings: Malcolm III, called Canmore, ruled Scotland from 1058 to 1093, and his line kept the name in royal circulation for generations. Shakespeare's Macbeth ends with a Malcolm claiming the throne, which carried the name far beyond Scotland and into English literary memory. Scots emigration spread it through England, Ireland, North America, the Caribbean and Australia over the following centuries, and it was widely adopted in Black American families in the twentieth century. In the United States it has been on the books since national records began, never fashionable, never absent.
Meaning
Devotee of Saint Columba
From Gaelic máel, a follower or tonsured servant, joined to the name of Columba — itself the Latin word for dove.
How the name formed
- Columba
- Máel Coluim
- Maolcholuim
- Malcolm
Related forms: Maol Chaluim · Máel Coluim · Malcom · Callum · Calum
Pronouncing Malcolm
MAL-kum
Stress on the first syllable. The second l is barely sounded, so the ending is closer to -kum than -colm.
Nicknames for Malcolm
High
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
- 19921,495 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #205reached in 1928
- Change vs 2022
- +3.0%1,257 in 2025, from 1,220
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.
Malcolm in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maol Chaluim in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- Máel Coluim in Irish — same name
- Malcom in English — spelling variant
- Callum in Scottish — related form
- Calum in Scottish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Malcolms among us
people named Malcolm are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,359 born in 2025 was named Malcolm
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Hyman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Malcolm's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Hyman climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Hyman's path sketches the road Malcolm is walking now.
Malcolm peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Malcolm is headed
Malcolm should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Malcolm beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Malcolm in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Nearly a thousand years of unbroken record, from Gaelic kings through Shakespeare to the present day.
- Spelled the way it sounds for most English speakers, and familiar enough that it rarely needs repeating.
- Has a ready-made short form in Mal, plus regional options like Malc and Malky.
- Recognized across the English-speaking world — Scotland, Ireland, England, Australia, the Caribbean and North America.
- Malcolm X is the association most Americans reach for first. For many families that is exactly the point; for others it is worth knowing the name arrives with a strong public reference already attached.
- The variant spelling Malcom drops the l and turns up often enough that a Malcolm may need to correct forms and rosters now and then.
- In Spanish, French and Italian, mal means bad or ill — something to weigh if the short form Mal would be in daily use in a bilingual family.
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What they receive
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Malcolm
Masculine · #272 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Malcolms are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 48,500 people named Malcolm are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Malcolm in 2025?
- Malcolm ranks #272 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,257 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Malcolm?
- About 1 in every 1,359 US boys born in 2025 was named Malcolm — 1,257 in all.
- Will my child share the name Malcolm with classmates?
- Malcolm will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Malcolm
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Steven#271 · Eric#273 · Karter#270 · Javier#274 · Maximus#275 · Koa#269 · Bodie#275 · Cyrus#268
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Malcolm? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Malcolm and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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