Malcolm

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A masculine first name of Scottish and Gaelic origin, borne by several Scottish kings and many other notable people
2. A traditional Scottish male forename, derived from a Gaelic personal name meaning servant of Saint Columba
3. The name given to a boy, of Gaelic origin, famously held by Scottish monarchs and various later public figures

Etymology: Malcolm is a name built from two Gaelic elements: "máel", meaning "tonsured" or "devotee," and "columb", meaning "dove," which comes from Latin "columbus." Together they give "devotee of [Saint] Columba," the sixth-century Irish missionary associated with Iona. The "tonsured" sense points to the shaven crown of a monk, so the name originally named a servant of a saint rather than a bird. In Scotland the name became a royal one. Several kings bore it in medieval times, and it was anglicised from a family of Goidelic forms: Scottish Gaelic "Maol Chaluim" or "Calum," and Irish "Maol Colm" and Middle Irish "Máel Coluim." Over centuries these variants settled into the spelling English speakers now use.