Mallori
Feminine · “Old French malheure”
Mallory means unlucky. Old French malheure is unfortunate, and the surname was given to someone regarded as ill-fated or ill-tempered. Medieval French supplied English with a set of these: Malin, bad; Purcell, a piglet; Bastard, which was a surname for centuries; and Mallory, the unfortunate one.
How old is the name Mallori?
Mallori first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Mallori alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 1,600 people named Mallori are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mallori most popular?
Mallori peaked in 1986, reaching #1405 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 7,455 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From malheure to Mallori
The story of Mallori
Unflattering nicknames became hereditary surnames in enormous numbers because the process was not chosen: a byname stuck to a person, was applied to their children for convenience, and became fixed when records began requiring stable names. Nobody consulted the family. English surname lists therefore contain Bastard, Coward, Sillitoe, Daft, Grubb, Belcher, Smellie and Mallory, and their bearers have carried them for centuries. The French-derived ones are a distinct layer, arriving after the Conquest: Malin from mal, bad; Purcell from a little pig; Mallory from unlucky; Bonner from good-natured, which is one of the few kind ones. The modern habit of using surnames as first names picks these up without checking, which is how a name meaning unfortunate became a popular American girls' name in the 1980s.
Meaning
Old French malheure, unfortunate
From Old French maleure or malheure, unlucky or unfortunate, from Latin malum augurium, a bad omen. The surname was given as a nickname. Sir Thomas Malory, who compiled Le Morte d'Arthur, carried it. Mallori is a modern American respelling with an -i ending; the name crossed to girls in the 1980s and this spelling peaks in 1986.
How the name formed
- malheure
- Mallory
- Mallori
Related forms: Mallory · Malorie
Pronouncing Mallori
MAL-uh-ree
Three syllables, stress on the first. Mallori, Mallory and Malorie are homophones. The middle vowel is fully reduced.
Nicknames for Mallori
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
- 1983
- Most girls named
- 198691 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1405reached in 1986
- Change vs 2024
- +37.5%11 in 2025, from 8
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.
Mallori in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mallory in English — spelling variant
- Malorie in English — spelling variant
Malloris among us
people named Mallori are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Mallori
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mallori
- #8860
- Mallori on the 2025 chart
- #358
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mallori went to 11 girls in 2025, but Mallory, Malory and Malori are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 856, which makes it the 358th most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,502 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,878 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 146,115 for Mallori itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Leasa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mallori's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leasa climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leasa's path sketches the road Mallori is walking now.
Mallori 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
Mallori beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mallori in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is settled and documented.
- Lori is a complete name as a short form.
- The sound is entirely familiar in American use.
- The name means unfortunate.
- Mallory is the standard spelling.
- The -i ending dates it to the 1980s.
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Mallori
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Malloris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Mallori are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mallori?
- Mallori is one of 4 recorded spellings. Mallory is the more common one — 825 births in 2025 against 11 for Mallori.
- How popular is the name Mallori in 2025?
- Mallori ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mallori?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Mallori — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mallori with classmates?
- Mallori will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mallori
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mallori? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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