Malori
Feminine · “unlucky”
Mallory means unlucky. The Norman French malheure is bad fortune, and it became a nickname surname for a man with poor luck or a bad temper, which his descendants then inherited whether it fitted them or not. It is one of the few English surnames that is frankly an insult.
How old is the name Malori?
Malori first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Malori alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 800 people named Malori are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Malori most popular?
Malori peaked in 1987, reaching #1962 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 9,970 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From malheure to Malori
The story of Malori
Nickname surnames were unsentimental. A man could be recorded as Mallory because he was unlucky, or ill-tempered, or considered generally unfortunate to be near, and his family carried it for eight hundred years. Two bearers made the name known. Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte d'Arthur — the book that gave English the Arthurian legend in the form everyone knows — while in prison, and says so in the text, asking readers to pray for his deliverance. George Mallory disappeared near the summit of Everest in 1924, and when asked why he wanted to climb it gave the four words that everyone has quoted since. Neither of them was notably lucky.
Meaning
unlucky, unfortunate
From Old French malheure, unfortunate or ill-omened, used as a nickname surname in Norman England. The reading is standard in English surname scholarship. Malori is an American respelling with the -i ending; the meaning belongs to the surname whatever the spelling.
How the name formed
- malheure
- Mallory
- Malori
Pronouncing Malori
MAL-uh-ree
Three syllables, stress on the first. Mallory, Malory and Malori are said identically; the doubled l and the ending are both spelling choices.
Nicknames for Malori
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
- 198757 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1962reached in 1987
- Change vs 2024
- +40.0%7 in 2025, from 5
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.
Maloris among us
people named Malori are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Malori
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Malori
- #11932
- Malori on the 2025 chart
- #358
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Malori went to 7 girls in 2025, but Mallory, Malory and Mallori 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 — 11,574 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,878 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 229,610 for Malori 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 Philippa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Malori's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Philippa climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Philippa's path sketches the road Malori is walking now.
Malori 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
Malori beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Malori in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Norman French meaning that can be checked in a surname dictionary.
- Two literary and one mountaineering bearer, all of them findable.
- Three short forms, one of which is a full name in its own right.
- It means unlucky, which is either an excellent story or one to leave unmentioned.
- Mallory is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected toward it.
- The obvious short form is also a prefix meaning bad, in malice and malignant.
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What they receive
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Malori
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maloris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Malori are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Malori?
- Malori is one of 4 recorded spellings. Mallory is the more common one — 825 births in 2025 against 7 for Malori.
- How popular is the name Malori in 2025?
- Malori ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Malori?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Malori — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Malori with classmates?
- Malori will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Malori
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932 · Gracia#11932 · Hassie#11932 · Allene#11932 · Leonore#11932 · Ozella#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Malori? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Malori and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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