Meaning and background
The story behind Mafalda
Mafalda began as a medieval Portuguese form of Matilda and later spread in several Romance-language settings. The longer Matilda family is connected with old Germanic elements for strength and battle; Mafalda is not itself a Spanish word meaning “battle maiden”. A separate cultural reference is Quino’s Argentine comic-strip heroine Mafalda. Portuguese and Italian pronunciations differ, so a dog with this name may need a chosen household form.
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About Mafalda
Recorded as a dog’s name
Mafalda appears in 8 dog licence records in the 2022 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
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Sources and research notes (1)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — all seven available extract years, retrieved 24 October 2026 — Recorded name spellings in NYC licence-period rows, extract years 2016–2018, 2022–2024 and 2026. Evidence selects one stated year per name. Annual snapshots overlap; never sum them as unique dogs. No national popularity, etymology or owner naming-intent claim.
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.