moll

Moll is a term and name with several distinct uses in English and German contexts. In slang, a moll refers to a gangster’s girlfriend or female companion; the term is linked to Prohibition-era American crime culture and to mid-20th-century crime fiction and film. Its etymology is uncertain, with possible connections to diminutives of Molly or Mary, or influences from German or Yiddish slang. The sense is informal and increasingly characterized as dated in contemporary usage.

As a name, Moll functions both as a surname of German origin and as a given-name nickname. In onomastics, Moll appears in German-speaking areas and elsewhere through migration, carried as a family name. As a given name, Moll is often a traditional nickname for Molly or Mary, and it has appeared in English literature and folklore.

The best-known literary bearer of the name is Moll Flanders, the protagonist of Daniel Defoe’s 1722 novel, where the nickname Moll serves as the heroine’s familiar form rather than a formal given name. The character helped popularize the name in English literary tradition.

In modern usage, Moll is relatively rare as a contemporary given name but remains found in historical contexts and in family surnames. The term appears in various cultural works—films, novels, and songs—often invoking its gangster-era slang sense or serving as a literary or historical name.