I'm glad to hear that Mathalwin existed. I thought that possibly the name Mathalwin was contracted at the time that many Old English and Germanic names were simplified from their original forms, I think around the time of the
Norman conquest. I figured if it was simplified, it seems like it would likely be turned into Malvin or
Melvin. I can't see any other ways that Mathalwin could be contracted and still keep the same elements intact.
Nevertheless, all of that is just speculation, there's no way to prove it at the moment. It seems to me like it may still be a possibility that
Melvin was at one point derived from Mathalwin in certain regions, but no way to know for sure yet. What do you think?
Thanks for the extra links too! That's some really interesting information about
Malvina and the Falkland islands. I found out that Saint Malo's name came from the Breton elements "mach" meaning "pledge, hostage, warrant" and "loh" meaning "light, brilliant, bright, beautiful". From the definitions of the elements that make it up, it seems that it's also a Breton translation of the Germanic
Gilbert.
This message was edited 5/15/2019, 12:48 AM