Malory
Feminine · “Old French "unlucky”
The man who wrote the definitive English Arthur wrote most of it in prison. Thomas Malory was repeatedly jailed for violent crimes, and Le Morte d'Arthur was finished in 1470 in custody — by a knight whose own conduct was the opposite of everything the book celebrates.
How old is the name Malory?
Malory first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Malory alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,400 people named Malory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Malory most popular?
Malory peaked in 1987, reaching #1512 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 6,373 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From maleuré to Malory
The story of Malory
The identification is not certain, but the strongest candidate for the author is a Warwickshire knight who sat in Parliament and was later charged with ambush, extortion, cattle theft and rape, spending much of the 1450s and 1460s in prison. The book's closing lines ask for prayers for a knight prisoner. Caxton printed it in 1485 and it became the source for nearly every later English Arthur, from Tennyson to Steinbeck. That a book about the ideal of knighthood was written by a man who broke it is one of the better-known ironies in English literature. The American given name Malory peaks in 1987.
Meaning
Old French "unlucky, unfortunate"
From Old French maleuré or malheuré, unlucky or ill-fated, from mal, bad, plus a word for fortune — the same elements behind modern French malheureux. It was a byname for an unfortunate person and became a Norman surname. Malory with one l is a spelling variant of Mallory; neither carries a separate meaning.
How the name formed
- maleuré
- Mallory
- Malory
Related forms: Mallory · Maloret
Pronouncing Malory
MAL-uh-ree
Three syllables, stress on the first. Malory and Mallory are pronounced identically; the doubled l changes nothing audible.
Nicknames for Malory
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
- 198785 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1512reached in 1987
- Change vs 2024
- −13.3%13 in 2025, from 15
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.
Malory in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mallory in English — spelling variant
- Maloret in French — related form
Malorys among us
people named Malory are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Malory
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Malory
- #7885
- Malory on the 2025 chart
- #358
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Malory went to 13 girls in 2025, but Mallory, Mallori 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 — 7,527 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,878 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 123,636 for Malory 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 Mariellen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Malory's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mariellen climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mariellen's path sketches the road Malory is walking now.
Malory 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
Malory beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Malory in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mal and Mally are ready short forms.
- It is read correctly on sight by English speakers.
- It carries a documented and consequential literary figure.
- The meaning of the surname is unlucky, which some families weigh.
- Mallory with two l letters is the more common spelling.
- The 1980s peak dates a bearer fairly clearly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Malory
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Malorys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Malory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Malory?
- Malory is one of 4 recorded spellings. Mallory is the more common one — 825 births in 2025 against 13 for Malory.
- How popular is the name Malory in 2025?
- Malory ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Malory?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Malory — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Malory with classmates?
- Malory will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Malory
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Malory? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Malory and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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