Milka

Milka has multiple independent origins. In South Slavic languages such as Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Slovene, it is a short form of names beginning with the element mil, meaning gracious or dear, and belongs to the same family as Milena, Milica, and Mila. In Biblical Hebrew, it appears as the name of two women in the Old Testament, one a daughter of Zelophehad and another the wife of Nahor, derived from a root related to the word for queen or ruler, connecting it to the name Malka. In Finnish and Polish use it functions as a diminutive or borrowed form drawing on the Slavic tradition.