Maltese Names

Abstract

Maltese onomastics is polystratal and polyglot, because names have reached the island over many centuries in complicated historical and linguistic conditions, and because Malta has always been a place for the coexistence of various ethnic groups and their respective languages. Some of the oldest Maltese surnames are of Arabic origin. The local vernacular itself developed from a medieval variety of dialectal Arabic during the Saracen occupation (870–1091). Some of the obvious Semitic surnames are Abdilla, Buhagiar, Farrugia, Saliba, and Zammit. Since the end of the Arab-Muslim period and the complete re-Christianization of the island, the two major strata on the Maltese anthroponymic map have been overwhelmingly Romance and British. For four whole centuries (1130–1530), Malta was merely a geographical entity within the Kingdom of Sicily and enjoyed the same political status as any Sicilian commune. These close cultural connections continued during the rule of the Knights Hospitallers of St John (1530–1798), which guaranteed a constant influx of Neo-Latin speakers into Malta. Family names which reached the island via these channels include: Baldacchino, Debono, Pace, Falzon, and Vella. Up until the early twentieth century, social interaction between the British and the Maltese was minimal, but the two world wars brought the two peoples into closer contact, and this resulted in a considerable number of mixed marriages. This then explains the present abundance of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish surnames: Jones, Mackay/Mckay, Smith, Martin, and Turner.