Melville is an English given name derived from the Scottish surname of the same origin. The surname Melville itself has two distinct etymological roots: a Norman French place name and an Irish Gaelic patronymic. The Scottish branch comes from the Norman French Malleville (modern Malleville in Normandy), which combines mal meaning "bad" and ville meaning "town" or "settlement," thus yielding the meaning "bad town." This habitational name was brought to Scotland during the Norman conquest. In Ireland, Melville is an Anglicization of the Gaelic Ó Maoilmhichíl, meaning "descendant of