Genesis 10:28 names him as a son of Yaktan, descended from Shem (cf 1 Chronicles 1:22), which places him in southern Arabia. Strabo noted a nomadic tribe called the Minoi in the region of Mecca, and identified them with the Mani of Greece, but this seems too far away in letters, even if not in geography, for what I guess we would have to call the "Ma-El" (Avi means "father").
It is thought by some scholars that this is the same tribe, though the absence of any clear connection between the names leaves this requiring more evidence. I am inclined to think it also unlikely, but less unlikely than the Mani theory, that Avi-Ma-El simply meant "my father is from El", something in parallel with Avi-Da, and not a tribe at all.
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