Cassar"ĭespite these origins, the Maltese do not attach much importance to the origin of their surnames and all coexist smoothly. Children are mostly the name of their father, but some can only be that of their mother or append both.īy custom, the first initial before a name indicates a whole family, such as talking about the "D. Example: Maria Borg born Zammit in official documents, is Maria Borg in everyday life. Women usually take the surname of their husbands in marriage. Surnames of new foreign migrantsĬurrently, due to the migration of new third world country, new family names appeared: Nwoko after the naturalization of football player Mandrins Nwoko. Mention may also be: Okoh, Ohaegbu, Yekoko, Stefanov, Bogdanovic, Giorev, Mohamed, Abu Shala, Abu Shamala. In Munxar, Gozo, the majority of the population carries one of two surnames: Curmi or Brincat. Example: Chircop, Curmi, Dingli, Dimech, Farrugia, Lia, Balzan, Valletta, Xiberras, Sciberras ( hill on which Valletta was built).īajada originates mainly Gozo. Some names Maltese family originated in the places where these families lived. The name becomes for example: Borg-Olivier, Cachia-Zammit, Caruana-Curran, Fenech-Adami, Mifsud-Bonnici, Sammut-Alessi, Sammut-Testaferrata, Sant-Fournier, Spiteri-Gonzi, Vella-Maistre. The surname then transformed indicates the status of the family. Double surnamesĪ marriage, some women in Malta in order to preserve their family name to die for, in addition to their name than their husbands. This means that for more than 500 years Azzopardi became Catholic in spite of the origin of their name.
Indeed in 1492, when the edict of Isabella the Catholic, Jewish reduced far to practice their religion in secret, were forced to convert to Catholicism. The latter is derived from the Hebrew Safardi, which means « Jew from Spain". Jews have also left traces of their presence on the island with names like: Abela, Ellul, Azzopardi and Cohen. These names date back to the Middle Ages and gave Von Brockdorff, Von Hompesch, Engerer, Hyzler, Schranz, Von Schembri (Germanic family originally from the Rhine valley) Wismayer, Craus. Zarb, Zammit ( Muslim slave), Zerafa German surnames French surnamesĪs: Arnaud, Lautier, Lebrun, Martin, Montfort. Greek surnamesĪs: Agius (saint in Greek), Alamango, Cascun, Cuschieri (broken arm in Greek), Papagiorcopoulo, Dacoutros, Vasilopoulos, Vasilis, Trakosopoulos.
Spanish surnames also exist, the most common are: Galea (Aragon), Calleja and Galdes Galdies or carried by a single family, are less common: Enriquez, Herrera, Inguanez, Carabez, Navarra. Example: Busuttil, Cutajar Ebejer, Sammut, Xuereb, Xerri, Grixti, Xriha, the last three were Italianised and gave Surname Scerri, Griscti, Sciriha under the influence of the Italian alphabet used until the 19th century for acts or official documents. They are due to the presence of many Eastern Mediterranean influences (Arabs, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Turks) and southern (Normans, Sicily, Romans, Spaniards, French, English) suffered by the Maltese Archipelago since prehistoric times. We must not forget that Malta was part of the British Empire during the 19th century, so that we came across of: Bickle, Carabott, Edwards, Haidon, Harmsworth, Atkins, Mattocks, Wallbank, Smith, Jones, Turner, Henwood. Widespread, these names are often due to the close proximity of Sicily and Italy, as: Bonello, Camilleri, Cremona, Dalli, Giglio, Delicata, Licari, Magri, Massa, Rizzo, Troisi, Vassallo, etc. Maltese surnames are relatively identifiable in their vast majority, but because of the different cultures that have impacted the Maltese island, they have various origins: Sicilian & Italian surnames
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