Named after the porte Maillot, once a gate of the Bois de Boulogne rather than of Paris.
It was the main gate in the wall built round the wood under Henri II, then called porte Mahiaulx, later Mahiot and Mailhau. The name is often said to come from an old game of mail (pall-mall), but a much older origin is thought far more likely: the revolt of the Maillotins in 1382, Parisians armed with lead mallets.