This is a surname of several possible origins. It is certainly English and may be recorded in the varied spellings which include Malin, Mallin, Maling, Malling, and Maylling. The first possible origin is from the medieval female given name "Malle, itself a short or nickname form of the very popular Mary. The base name is believed to come from the Aramaic "Maryam", meaning "wished for a child". St. Jerome understood it as a compound of "mar", meaning a drop, and "ham", the sea, which he rendered as "stella maris", or star of the sea. Mary was apparently the name of the mother of Christ in the New Testament, and the earliest example noted in Britain is that of the second daughter of King Malcolm 11 of Scotland who was born in 1082. Another possibility is that the name is locational from the village of Malling in the county of Kent. This place name is believed to derive from the original spelling 'Meallingas', or the place of the Mealla tribe. Early examples of recordings taken from surviving church registers of the city of London include those of Elizabeth Maylling. She married Harrie Smithe at St Mary at Hill, on June 20th 1566, John Malin, who was christened at St. Peter's Cornhill, on August 5th 1596, Alce Maling, who was christened at St Mary Magdalene, on June 26th 1630, and George Malling who was christened at St Mary Harlesworth, on March 8th 1818.

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