The coast of Malabar forms part of the eastern area of India, but it would appear that this was a 17th Century name bestowed upon it by the early French settlers. The name is therefore of French origin and translates as 'the bad coast' and presumably once referred to an area of mainland France. There are many variant spellings recorded in England, these include Mallober, Malabar, Mallabar, Malebor, Mallaber, Malvee, Mallvois, Malvrey, and Melvoire, all are from the Huguenot period. The name recordings include Margaret Malabarre who married Thomson Tomson on December 18th 1628 at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, whilst on November 24th 1850 one Jules Malabre was a witness at St. Alban's Church, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Marie Mallabar, which was dated September 21st 1623, christened, during the reign of King James I of England and VI of Scotland, 1603 - 1625. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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