Malvin
A masculine name of Old German origin meaning "friend of the noble one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,178 living Americans carry the first name Malvin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Malvin today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Malvin births was 1921 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Malvin. 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 Malvin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 290,963 Americans
Peak year
1921
68 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2023 SSA rank
#4,524
Tracked since 1886
Census
Malvin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,468 people with the first name Malvin, which placed it at #9,455 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
#9,455
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,468 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
30.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Malvin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malvin is Hispanic at 30.1%. The next largest groups are Black (29.0%) and White (28.6%). 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 Malvin 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 Malvin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino30.1% · 442
- Black or African American29.0% · 426
- White28.6% · 420
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.3% · 136
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 30
- Two or more races1.0% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Malvin
Out of the 2,685 babies given the name Malvin since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Malvin as a male name
- Ranked #11,723 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1921 (68 births)
Malvin as a female name
- Ranked #4,524 in 1928
- 6 female births in 1928
- Peak: 1922 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malvin leans strongly male. 1,435 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 33 female bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Malvin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Malvin from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 559 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Malvin 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 Malvin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Malvins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Arkansas, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Malvin, while California, Nebraska, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Malvin
The given name Malvin is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old High German words "mahal" meaning "council" or "assembly" and "wini" meaning "friend." It is believed to have emerged in the 8th or 9th century AD, during the early medieval period in regions that are now parts of modern-day Germany and Austria.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Malvin can be found in the Carolingian Chronicles, a historical record of the Frankish Empire compiled in the late 8th century. The name appears as "Malwinus," referring to a nobleman who served as a trusted advisor to Charlemagne, the renowned Frankish king and Holy Roman Emperor.
In the 12th century, a Benedictine monk named Malvinus of Bruges is known to have played a significant role in the theological debates of his time. Born in Flanders (now part of Belgium) around 1095, Malvinus is credited with writing several treatises on monastic life and Church doctrine.
During the Renaissance period, a Italian painter named Malvin Gozzoli (1420-1497) gained recognition for his intricate fresco work, particularly his depiction of the Journey of the Magi in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence.
In the 19th century, Malvin Iles (1838-1911), a British engineer and industrialist, made significant contributions to the development of early steam engines and played a pivotal role in the Industrial Revolution.
Another notable figure was Malvin Russell Wilcox (1858-1928), an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Wilcox Electric Company and donated generously to educational institutions in his home state of Connecticut.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Malvin. While the name has seen a decline in popularity in recent times, its Germanic roots and historical references to influential individuals across various fields remain a testament to its enduring legacy.
People
Malvin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Malvin 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
Malvin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Malvin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,178 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Malvin 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 290,963 US residents.
Is Malvin a common name?
We classify Malvin as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,685 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Malvin most popular?
The single biggest year for Malvin was 1921, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Malvin is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Malvin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,468 people with the name Malvin, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,455 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 Malvin 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 Malvin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Malvin leans strongly male. 1,435 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 33 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Malvin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Malvin is Hispanic at 30.1%. The next largest groups are Black (29.0%) and White (28.6%). 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 Malvin most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Malvin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 30.1% (442 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 Malvin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Malvin a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Malvin in the SSA data are male. 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 Malvin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Malvin 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 Malvin 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 have Malvin as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Malvin, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.