Updated June 9, 2019 Share: Family name origins & meanings English : from a medieval female personal name, a diminutive of Mal(le), a pet form of Mary (see Mall), with the hypocoristic suffix -kin.Jewish (from Belarus) : metronymic from the Yiddish female personal name Malke (from Hebrew Malka ‘queen’) + the Slavic metronymic suffix -in.