Scottish and English.
Mally was the original pet name derived from Mary. The current English and non-Gaelic Irish pet name Molly/Mollie is derived from it.
A correspondent [GJ] reports that, in the early 16th century, the female name Male was used in the Kirk Session records of St Andrews, Scotland [transcribed by the Scottish History Society]. We presume this to be an early phonetic spelling variant of Mally/Molly. |