trevally a name applied in an indiscriminate manner to various fish of the carangid family (see jack). It sounds like a Cornish name, which would suggest that Cornish emigrants to the New World, and especially to Australasia, are responsible for its use; but it is thought by the NSOED to be a version of cavally, which in turn is probably derived from the Italian cavalli, plural of the Italian name for horse mackerel. The horse mackerel, another member of the same family, used to be taken in very large quantities in Cornwall.
