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Malachy

#8,661 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Máel Sechnaill

Malachy has been given to 690 babies in the U.S. since 1897. In 2025 it ranked #8,661 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2002, with 35 recorded.

Babies named Malachy, 2025

1 in 368,000

Malachy over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Malachy: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Máel Sechnaill

Irish

What Malachy means

Malachy is a form of Máel Sechnaill.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Irish Maolmhaodhóg and Maolseachnaill/Maolseachlainn, influenced by the etymologically unrelated name Malachi, which is of Hebrew origin.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Malachy (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Malachy is used in English. Its origins include Irish.

Malachy comes through Irish Maolmhaodhóg.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Máel Sechnaill.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Malachy is pronounced /ˈmæləki/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 690 boys were recorded with the name Malachy between 1897 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 35 in 2002; its best national rank was #1,168 in 1897.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,799 in 2020 to #8,661 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #6,180 in 2015 to #8,661 in 2025.

How common is Malachy?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 368,000
9 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 190,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#8,661
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
255,323 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Malachy sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 255,323 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Malachy. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Malachys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Malachy was born before 2006 — so the typical Malachy is around 19 today.

Median birth year
2006
About 19 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
34.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
71.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
631
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 34.9% of all recorded uses (241).

Is Malachy rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−2,587
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,862
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,481
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.64×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
25.7%
Peak was 2002 (35)
Years since peak
23
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,168
1897

Spellings of Malachy

Malachy is not the most common spelling — Malachi is, with 92.0% against Malachy's 0.97%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Malachy is used

Across 1910–2025, Malachy was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 741,340 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Illinois1 in —
  3. 3New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Malachy has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Malachy around the world

Where Malachy ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,359
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2002–2023
    #533
    in 2023
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2025
    #199
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1964–2025
    #372
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2003–2022
    #2,959
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    2000–2012
    #771
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Malachy by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#8,661
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,862
Best rank ever
#1,168
1897
Peak year
2002
35 that year
First recorded
1897
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
690
Count in 2025
9

Names similar to Malachy

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MalichiMalakyeMalikyeMalikhiMalickMalekaiMaliqueMalikaiMaliekMalakhaiMalikiMaloneMalacaiMalakhiMalachaiMaliqMalloryMalvernMaleekMalykMalosiMalakiaMalakMalijah

Sibling names for Malachy

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Malachy

Top names of 2002, Malachy's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1897Boys' names starting with M