Mal bothers me in
Mallory because it actually relates to the meaning.
It doesn't bother me in
Malcolm or
Malachi (
Malachy just doesn't look right at all) because it has no relevance to the meaning.
For
Trista and
Tristan, the actual meanings don't appeal to me (Why would I name a kid something that means a tumult, which is often a bunch of idiots? First thing that comes to mind is the Vancouver riot a few months ago). The other reason I don't like
Tristan is that while it may be a boys' name, it sounds super-girly in style... Almost like someone made a few typos in
Kristin.