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Family spelling variants includes O'Malley, O'Meally, O'Mealley, O'Meley, O'Melia, O'Mealy, O'Maely, O'Mailey, O'Maley, O'Mallay, O'Mallia, O'Mallie, O'Mally, O'Maly, Mailey, Mailley, Malay, Malee, Malia, Mallee, Malley, Maley, Mally, Mealey, Maly, Mealia, Mealley, Meally, Mealy, Meely, Melia, Melly
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MAILE Family History
This unusual and interesting name has several possible origins.
The Irish surname Ó Máille describes the descendants of Máille, who lived just before the first Millenium (the year 1000). This was the time when surnames first came to be used in Ireland. Máille's family were Lords of Umhall, the territory around Clew Bay in Co. Mayo, on the West Coast of Ireland. Since that time, many variants in spelling and usage have arisen, as a result of translation to English and documentation by scribes who were not familiar with Irish names. The most common variant today is O'Malley, but there are numerous others, with and without the O. It is likely that some modern day Maile surnames are a variant of Ó Máille.
In England, the name may have independently arisen from the Norman nickname for a very "male", masculine man, from the Olde French word "masle". In Middle English the word became "male", meaning virile, masculine.
A possible German origin is from a German nickname for someone with a reputation for talking or perhaps eating excessively, derived from the German "maul", meaning "mouth".
The surname development has included Stephen Male (1230, Essex) and Robert Mayle (1607, London).
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