Máel Coluim was a son of Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde, a man who ruled the Cumbrian Kingdom of Strathclyde from about the 930s to the 970s. Máel Coluim's name is Gaelic, and may be evidence of a marriage alliance between his family and the neighbouring Alpínid dynasty of the Kingdom of Alba. The name may also reveal that Máel Coluim was a godson of his northern namesake, Máel Coluim mac Domnaill, King of Alba, and could perhaps be indicative of Dyfnwal's submission to this Scottish king.