Malcolm

What Malcolm means

Variant of Calum, meaning “dove”

variant of Calum || From Scottish Gaelic Calum, from Late Latin Columba (literally “dove”), the name of a sixth century Scottish saint, one of the patron saints of Scotland.

Source: Wiktionary, “Malcolm” (revision 93531399) and “Calum” (revision 93367993), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Malcolm?

US: Rising: up from #421 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #1236 in 2015, #1307 now.

Biggest US share so far: 1992, when 1,495 boys got the name (#206 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,359 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 12,949 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,637 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in ME (4.16 per 1,000 boys), NH (2.66 per 1,000 boys), RI (2.56 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Malcolm is #272 in the US and #1307 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Malcolm were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Malcolm

Boys

• Arthur#87possibly “bear”^*
• Harvey#251“iron + blazing”^*
• Roy#525“king”^*
• Rory#199“red-haired king”^*
• Neil#850Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1954, with 1,959 babies; 288 in 2025
• Ellis#243“benevolent, kind”^*

For a sister

• Eileen#654possibly “radiance, beauty”^*
• Blaire#384Variant of Blair, meaning “field, plain”^*
• Winifred#922Editor’s note Up from #1,437 in 2015 to #922 in 2025 in the US
• Gwendolyn#360Variant of Gwendolen, meaning “white, fair, blessed + ring, bow…^*
• Meredith#469“great lord”^*
• Maeve#76“intoxicating”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Malcolm’s. Rank is US 2025.