Malachi

How to say it

/ˈmæl.ə.kaɪ/

What it means

Hebrew Malʾakhi, 'my messenger.' The last of the twelve minor prophets in the Old Testament; his book is the final book of the Christian Old Testament and prophesies the coming of Elijah before the Day of the Lord.

Malachi comes from the Hebrew Malʾakhi ('my messenger'). The prophet Malachi is the last of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible; his book is also the last book of the Christian Old Testament (the books are ordered differently in the Jewish Tanakh). The book prophesies that Elijah will return before the Day of the Lord, a passage Christians read as a prediction of John the Baptist. The English Malachi has been climbing fast since the 2000s with the broader biblical-name revival. It entered the US top 200 in 2014. Single short forms aren't common; some families use Mal.

Heads-up notes

• Spelling

  Malachi is the dominant US spelling; Malachy is the Irish form (Saint Malachy was a 12th-century Irish archbishop).

Who's worn it

Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.

• Malachi (Bible) Last of the twelve minor prophets, his book closes the Christian Old Testament
• Saint Malachy 12th-century Irish archbishop of Armagh

Spelling variants

• Malachy
• Malakai

Names with the same feeling

• Elijah My God is Yahweh
• Isaiah Yahweh is salvation
• Jeremiah Yahweh will exalt
• Ezekiel God will strengthen
• Silas Of the forest, or short for Silvanus

See Malachi from another angle