Recorded in several spellings including Malin, Mallin, Malan, Mallan, Malen, Mallen, and the patronymics Mallinson, Mallison, and Malleson, this surname is one of a group that were derived from the name of the first bearer's mother. It is from the medieval female given name "Malin", a diminutive of "Malle, itself a pet form of the very popular Mary. The base name is believed to come from the Aramaic "Maryam", meaning "wished for a child". St. Jerome understood it as a compound of "mar", drop, and "ham", sea, which he rendered as "stilla maris" (Latin), later altered to "stella maris", star of the sea. This was the name of the mother of Christ in the New Testament, and the earliest example noted in Britain is Mary, the second daughter of Malcolm 11 of Scotland, and St. Margaret, born circa 1082. The subsequent popularity of the name gave rise to a wide variety of diminutive and pet forms including: Marion, Mall, Moll, and Marriot. "Malina" (without surname) was recorded in the 1212 Curia Regis Rolls of Nottinghamshire, and in 1273, a Malin Gogun was noted in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire. Later recordings include John Malen, at St Peters Cornhill, London, on July 21st 1566, Mary Malyn in the register of St Martins, Ludgate, London, on March 1st 1578, and John Malin, who was christened at St. Peter's, Cornhill, London, on August 5th 1596. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Malynes, which was dated 1358, in Putnam's "Enforcement of the Statutes of labourers", Warwickshire, during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377.

© Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 - 2024