Here is some good advice. If you are ever really interested in what your name might mean - don't bother looking. It might really suck.   In school, I was the only kid named Mahlon. It truly scarred me. I don't think my parents were being cruel - my last name is Smith, so I think perhaps they were just going for some contrast. My great grandfather had the same name, so I thought that I was probably just named after him. Instead, I was probably named after a very small airport in Eugene, the "Mahlon Suite." My family used to joke that I was. In retrospect, the way my Dad would slyly look at my Mom when he said it, or the way he would wink a tad too merrily at me - I don't think he was joking. Not one bit. I needed some background. I decided to do a usenet search on it - and I came up with a load of geneology information. Well, not really a 'load.' More like a scrap. A very small, disappointing scrap. Apparently, my name either originated in Israel, in Germany, or in Ireland. It might mean, "One Who is Ill," "Sickly One," or "Yogurt." Isn't that a wonderful life motto?   I am now one step closer to suicide.