# Male (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/male/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Welsh |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,773 |
| US rank (2010) | 16,265 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 174,137 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.1% (1,703 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a Welsh surname, from the personal name Mael, from Middle Welsh mael (“prince”). * As an English surname of Norman origin, contaminated from many Old French sources, such as mail (“hammer”), maille (“chainmail”), maille (“denier”), or esmal (“enamel”). Compare Mailer. * Also as an English surname, from Middle English male (“bag, pouch”). * Also as an English surname of Norman origin, from the source of male (“male, male adult”). * Also as an English surname, from Middle English mele (“meal, flour”) (compare Millman) or from Old Norse melr (“sandhill”). Compare Meil. * As a Slovene surname, from the adjective mal (“small, little”), from Proto-Slavic *malъ. Compare Mal, Mahle. * As a Norwegian surname, from a farm in Romsdal derived from Old Norse mǫl (“layer of pebbles”). Also Americanized from Mæle, Mæhle, itself related to the Norse word melr. Compare Mele.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Male in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 6.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 7.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 4.0% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.2% |
| Two or more races | 2.4% |

## Similar surnames

Malloy, Maloy, Mayle, Maley, Mele, Malley, Maul, Maly, Malo, Mealey, Mall, Maule.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.