First name content excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to 30,000 Baby Names © 2005 by Marcia Layton Turner. Buy this book online or call 1-800-253-6476.
Last name content copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks.
Last name origin & meaning:
Turkish and Greek: from Turkish mala ‘trowel’ (see Mallas) or mal ‘property’, both used metonymically.