Malala

Etymology

Malala is a Pashto feminine name, primarily a variant of Malalai, which means "sad, grieved" in Pashto. The name derives from a Pashtun folk hero, Malalai of Maiwand, who famously rallied Afghan forces during the 1880 Battle of Maiwand against the British.

Notable Bearer

Malala is best known as the name of Malala Yousafzai (born 12 July 1997), a Pakistani education activist and the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Named after the folk heroine Malalai of Maiwand, she rose to prominence for advocating girls' education in the Swat region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pakistani Taliban had banned girls from attending school. In 2012, she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban, and in 2014 she received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Kailash Satyarthi. She is the second Pakistani and the only Pashtun Nobel laureate.

• Meaning: Variant of Malalai – "sad, grieved"
• Origin: Pashto
• Type: First name
• Notable bearer: Malala Yousafzai (activist, Nobel laureate)