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in the form of "maitland" the "mal talent" origin is indeed hidden... but in the "maltaent" and "maltaulent" forms the word "mal" is pretty obvious to those who speak latin-based languages for "mal" means "bad" or "wrong" and, as an adjective, "evil"... however in the sense of "bad land" it could be a compliment, as to mention that those are able to survive and/or harvest in a bad land implis that they are crafty or anything possitive... "bad wit" or "bad grace" would however be trully negative, implying they were evil or dumb... However as such it could be backfire... I mean, those who got this surname might have been those who originally used it to name others being these others who, after hearing them say it too much, but really being unable to understand it, gave them that as their distinctive name... Or maybe it was given to them 'cause they were great warriors whose pillaging earned that name... Maybe the even didn't pillaged, however jealous people called them that way... Of course this is pure speculation... We can only limit to the meaning... *change the plural for a singular form wherever wanted