Mahala

Named my daughter Mahayla in 2009. Found it in a small baby name book in a tiny library, in a little rural old town - meaning powerful woman in native American Indian... reading some of these meanings unsure if its true but I love my daughters name its unique and special just like her.

I have an ancestor who married a woman called Mahala Isbell in Norfolk, England. She was born in 1838 in Lyng, Norfolk. I have long wondered where the name came from but perhaps her mother was Jewish, as her name was Hannah Rebekah. The name was passed down to a few of her descendants and I thought it was an unusual name to be found in Southern England.