Malfoy Family

• Abraxas Malfoy
  • Lucius Abraxas Malfoy
    • Draco Lucius Malfoy

Unlike the Longbottom family, there is a slight indication that the Malfoy family might actually be ennobled. While I see no indication of it in the books, Mrs. Rowling's Pottermore writings talk about them getting a "prime piece of land" for services to the King,¹ something that probably came with a title. Since they apparently continued (per the same page) to be high class socialites through the passage of the Statute of Secrecy,² it seems unlikely that they lost that title in the various periods of civil unrest between the Norman conquest and the Statute's division of society into magical and non-magical cultures. They seem to have been influential with government leaders, but not actually part of the magical government, ever since.³

On a side note, "Malfoy" is essentially "Bad faith" in French. I highly doubt that Mrs. Rowling intended this to have any real meaning except foreshadowing the role that the family would play. It would, however, be incredibly fun if it did have meaning. In a world where Astoria Greengrass can have a hereditary curse,⁴ this should certainly be possible. Considering that French was a fairly well known language in the upper classes, I cannot imagine that the name "Bad faith" did the Malfoy family any good mixing with the upper crust of either society. Sure they may have kept it out of stubborn pride, but it is much more fun to imagine they had no choice but to keep the name.⁵

Interestingly, based on the timelines I can piece together, Abraxus Malfoy should have been alive for most if not all of the first war.⁶ At least, I can find no indication that he himself was a known death eater,⁷ or that he died before Lucius graduated school.⁸ This overlap is probably the reason why some authors have chosen to state that Lucius may have inherited the relationship with Riddle rather than having fostered it.