Malcolm
Meaning
"devotee of St. Columba"
Goes by Mal
The story
Malcolm is Scottish for devotee of Saint Columba, the same dove-saint whose everyday form, Callum, told its story eight batches back, and it has worn a crown and a conscience. Kings of Scotland carried it, including the one who takes the throne as Macbeth's curtain falls. Its American record held a steady band for most of a century, about 3,600 to 6,100 a decade, then doubled in one: about 10,100 in the 1990s, the decade Spike Lee put the X on every marquee and jacket in America; decade buckets point, they do not convict. It settled to 5,100, then leveled remarkably: about 7,100 in the 2010s and 7,100 again so far this decade. In our records: about 70,000 boys to 120 girls. Mal does the everyday work, as our nickname records note. A king, a saint, a revolutionary: few names carry all three and stay this calm.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Malcolm peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
214 people · the #24,231 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 14
Among people named Malcolm living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 51 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
The Malcolm deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Malcolm truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Malcolm fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Malcolm travels
African American · A name of strength and pride in Black American families, closely associated with Malcolm X.
Keep exploring
Names like Malcolm · Nicknames for Malcolm · African American baby names · Names of revolutionaries and liberators
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