indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
Latinized form of the Greek name Μαλθακη (Malthake), from Greek μαλθακός (malthakos) "soft" (compare Amalthea). This name was used by Menander for a character in his 4th- or 3rd-century BC play Sikyonioi. It was also borne by one of the wives of the 1st-century BC king Herod the Great, who was the mother of his children Herod Antipas, Archelaus, and Olympias. Her name was used in Elizabeth George Speare's children's novel The Bronze Bow (1963), set in the 1st century.