dailyprompt-2037 – Mallaband-Brown

Where did your name come from?

When I was little I thought Mal-la-band meant the bad band in French. I convinced myself that it meant the bad band. Although that perhaps would have read “La band mal?”

I imagined myself as a part of a band of pirates, sailing the seven seas, looking for buried treasure and adventure.

Mal and Mer mixed up in my mind, I was quite young and I also thought it meant a bad sea or stormy sea.

As I learnt to spell my name I became aware that other children were taking the micky out of me. There was a type of margarine called “Blueband” and guess what exciting word kids in my school would call me? Yeah, you got it.

But when I got married I kept my original surname along with my hubbys. I didn’t want to lose it. I’m attached.

And it’s meaning? I don’t want to know. I just like my ideas.

Where did your name come from?

If I had a name like Archer or Baker I could assume my name had come down from the work my family used to do. Archer could be a soldier or hunter, Baker a cook or a bread maker.

But where does Mallaband or Brown come from? One is a strange name the other ubiquitous. Mallaband was a name that got me bullied at school. If I had a ‘normal’ name I think I would have been overlooked.

When I was little I thought Mallaband could be broken down into Mal la band. I thought it might mean ‘the bad band’. I decided we must have been part of a group of French bandits! What an odd thought.

Later I heard we might have a Yorkshire connections. But this was only a suggestion and there was no indication where it came from. I could join a genealogy website. But I don’t know if it would be something I would be interested in.