This is one of the most popular surnames of Poland. Recorded in several forms including Malinski, Malinowski, Malina (Poland), Maliniak (Croatian), Malinovsky (Russian), and Malinsky (Czech), this is a locational surname from a place called Malina in Poland. The plqce name meanins 'raspberry', and presumably referred to an areaof the country where these fruits grew in profusion. To the basic surname has been added the various suffix, which in Poland is usually '-owski. This is a status suffix, which loosely describes the son of a person who owned lands in Malina, and in some ways as '-ski' is similar to the German 'von' or the French 'de', and can imply noble or even royal, status. The name can also be Jewish although this is usually as Malina, and in this case it is considered that it can be either residential and describe an inhabitant of Malina, or itmay be occupational and describe a raspberry grower or fruit merchant.