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ArchivesRe: Malania
in reply to a message by mermaidwriter1000
Ancestry.com gives two possible origins for the surname Malan:
1. French: nickname from Old French malan(t) ‘sore’, ‘ulcer’ (Latin malandria).
2. Czech and Slovak: nickname for a small man, a derivative of malý (see Maly).
In South Africa we trace it back to French Huguenot and Dutch settlers, not Czech ... and I could readily imagine someone wanting to use the ln Malan as a fn, having a girl, and (probably inspired by Melania or just Melanie, which does indeed have a Greek origin) tweaking the ending to make it look fem. Here we'd say mah LAHN ee ah, since we pronounce the ln as mah LAHN.
Where did you find it?
1. French: nickname from Old French malan(t) ‘sore’, ‘ulcer’ (Latin malandria).
2. Czech and Slovak: nickname for a small man, a derivative of malý (see Maly).
In South Africa we trace it back to French Huguenot and Dutch settlers, not Czech ... and I could readily imagine someone wanting to use the ln Malan as a fn, having a girl, and (probably inspired by Melania or just Melanie, which does indeed have a Greek origin) tweaking the ending to make it look fem. Here we'd say mah LAHN ee ah, since we pronounce the ln as mah LAHN.
Where did you find it?
1