Mallory
A feminine name derived from the French surname Mallory, meaning "unfortunate" or "unhappy".
Name Census estimates that about 57,184 living Americans carry the first name Mallory. It sits at #412 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Mallory today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mallory births was 1986 (3,348 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mallory. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mallory with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Mallory is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,100 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
57K
~ 1 in 5,994 Americans
Peak year
1986
3,348 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2023 SSA rank
#412
Tracked since 1914
Census
Mallory in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 52,302 people with the first name Mallory, which placed it at #868 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#868
National first-name rank
People counted
52K
52,302 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
17.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mallory
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mallory is White at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Mallory described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Mallory at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.1% · 45,545
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 2,605
- Two or more races3.4% · 1,770
- Black or African American3.2% · 1,657
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 398
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 327
Gender
Gender distribution for Mallory
Mallory leans heavily female at 98.1% of total registrations, but 1,100 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mallory as a male name
- Ranked #11,722 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1971 (32 births)
Mallory as a female name
- Ranked #412 in 2024
- 765 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1986 (3,325 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mallory leans strongly female. 51,594 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 712 male bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Mallory: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mallory from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 16,562 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mallory by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mallory during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mallorys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Mallory, while Wyoming, District of Columbia, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,107 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mallory
The name Mallory is believed to have originated from the Old French surname "Malore" or "Mallore", which was derived from the Latin name "Malus Operarius", meaning "bad worker" or "poor worker". This surname eventually evolved into the given name Mallory.
The earliest recorded use of the name Mallory dates back to the 12th century in England. It is thought to have been initially used as a derogatory term for someone who was perceived as a poor or lazy worker. However, over time, it transitioned into a respectable given name.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Mallory was Sir Thomas Mallory, an English writer who lived between approximately 1405 and 1471. He is best known for compiling and translating the iconic collection of tales known as "Le Morte d'Arthur", which chronicles the legendary adventures of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Another significant figure bearing the name Mallory was George Mallory, an English mountaineer and explorer who lived from 1886 to 1924. He was part of the early British expeditions to Mount Everest in the 1920s and is famously remembered for his attempt to be the first person to reach the summit of the world's highest peak.
In the field of literature, Amelia Mallory, an American novelist born in 1892, gained recognition for her works of historical fiction, including "The Eternal Hills" and "The Woods Calf". She was renowned for her vivid depictions of life in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri.
Moving to the realm of sports, Douglas Mallory, born in 1892, was a talented American tennis player. He achieved remarkable success in the early 20th century, winning multiple Grand Slam titles, including the U.S. National Championships (now known as the US Open) in both singles and doubles events.
Lastly, Mallory Weggemann, born in 1989, is a contemporary American Paralympic swimmer and motivational speaker. Despite becoming paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 18, she has overcome immense challenges and represented the United States in multiple Paralympic Games, winning multiple gold and bronze medals.
People
Mallory + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mallory as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mallory: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mallory?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 57,184 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mallory going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 5,994 US residents.
Is Mallory a common name?
We classify Mallory as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 59,313 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mallory most popular?
The single biggest year for Mallory was 1986, when 3,348 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mallory is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mallory in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 52,302 people with the name Mallory, or 17.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #868 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Mallory in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Mallory?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mallory leans strongly female. 51,594 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 712 male bearers (1.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Mallory?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mallory is White at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.0%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Mallory most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mallory in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.1% (45,545 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mallory in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mallory a female name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Mallory in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mallory still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mallory in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mallory can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Mallory?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.