First name origin & meaning: Old French: Little twin; little Thomas First name variations: Maslen Last name origins & meanings:
- English and French: from the medieval personal name
Masselin. This originated as an Old French pet form of Germanic
names with the first element mathal ‘speech’,
‘counsel’. However, it was later used as a pet form of Matthew.
Compare Mace. A feminine form, Mazelina, was probably
originally a pet form of Matilda.
- English and French: possibly a metonymic
occupational name for a maker of wooden bowls, from Middle English,
Old French maselin ‘bowl or goblet of maple wood’ (a diminutive
of Old French masere ‘maple wood’, of Germanic origin). In some
cases it may derive from the homonymous dialect terms maslin,
one of which means ‘brass’ (Old English mæslen,
mæstling), the other ‘mixed grain’ (Old French
mesteillon).
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