Find out how popular the last name Malm is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Malm.

Malm, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Malm surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Malm in America

Malm is the 13815th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Malm surname appeared 2,188 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Malm.

We can also compare 2010 data for Malm to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Malm

The surname MALM has its origins in Sweden and is a habitational name derived from the place name Malm. This place name is believed to come from the Old Swedish word "malmr" which means "sandy soil" or "gravel." The earliest known record of this name is from the 14th century in the city of Malmö, which was originally called Malmhauge.

During the Middle Ages, the name MALM appeared in various historical records, including the Swedish census rolls from the 15th and 16th centuries. One notable early bearer of this surname was Peder Malm, a merchant who lived in Stockholm in the late 15th century.

By the 17th century, the name had spread to other parts of Scandinavia and was found in Norwegian and Danish records as well. In Norway, one of the earliest recorded individuals with this surname was Hans Malm, born in Bergen in 1612.

In the 18th century, the name MALM began to appear in historical records outside of Scandinavia. In the United States, one of the earliest known bearers of this surname was Johan Malm, who immigrated from Sweden to Delaware in 1741.

Other notable individuals with the surname MALM include Anders Gustav Malm (1789-1865), a Swedish botanist and entomologist; Johan Malm (1856-1937), a Swedish architect who designed several buildings in Malmö; and Hjalmar Malm (1895-1978), a Swedish film director and screenwriter.

Throughout history, the surname MALM has been associated with various place names and has undergone slight variations in spelling, such as Malmö, Malmberg, and Malmgren. Despite these variations, the core meaning and origin of the name remain rooted in the Old Swedish word for "sandy soil" or "gravel," reflecting the geographic features of the areas where it first emerged.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Malm

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Malm.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Malm was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Malm has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Malm was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Malm, please contact us.

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