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Disappeared names

by Mario CASSAR

Disappeared names also bear witness to Malta's past network of complex political and socio-cultural connections. There are several reasons that may explain why these family names have disappeared. Some family names were simply ephemeral and transitory - a foreigner would spend a few years working on the island and then decide to return to his native country, taking his family name with him. Others were borne by families who simply could not produce male descendants. Famine, plague and war can wipe out entire families, especially if they have few members. Other families may have emigrated to seek their fortune elsewhere in difficult times or to flee the threat of invasion. This was the rule in medieval and early modern times. In our era, it is estimated that more than 137,000 Maltese left the country during the period 1946-1974 (90). Many Jewish names, such as Levi and derivatives of Abraham (Abramo), must have been lost after their expulsion in 1492. Family names may have mutated into different forms for reasons of homophony. Parish priests, notaries and scribes surely had their fair share of interference in this matter.

Today Delezio is probably an encrypted form of D'Alessio. Some changed their name for religious purposes.

Amato can sometimes be a disguised name for Hamed (m-t < m-d). Others had their family name changed from a specific term to a more generic one.

A De Candia could have simply become a Grech.

Finally, some family names fell victim to literal translation:

Pullicino may be a calque of Fellus,
D'Amico of Habib,
Pellegrini of Cagege,
Leone of Dorbies.

Many modern Maltese families trace their origins to various parts of Sicily and Southern Italy. Geographic proximity facilitated a considerable number of mixed marriages, cross-migrations and trade between the two countries.

The influence of Sicily and Italy is illustrated in this example of family names that have now disappeared from the local nomenclature: Leopardi, Trovato, Galante, Volpi, Villa, Vallone, Tartaglia, Spada, Nava, Rispoli, Casanova, Ottomano, Cipolla, Parodi, Bordino, Bellucci , Aprile, Alaimo, Abbate, Fontana, Candela, Colonna, Falca, Fabbreschi, Solimena, Farina, Verdi, Croce, Cataldo, Nuzzo, Crispo, Mannarino, Saura, de Spinola, Bonamico, Bosio, Pontremoli, Murina, Platamone, Moreo, Cannolo , Crescimanno/i, Melani, San Filippo, Santa Maura, Santa Sofia, Virtù, Montano, and Caxaro (= Casciaro). The list can never be exhaustive. One can immediately notice that some of these family names were borne by illustrious Maltese families that have since died out, or by important individuals who distinguished themselves in certain fields, whether literary, artistic, political or other.

Many disappeared names obviously come from an imported patronym or toponym. Patronymic names include: De Benedetto, De Biasi, De Federico, De Filippo, De Fiore, De Francesco, De Giuseppe, De Gregorio, De Lazzaro, De Salvo, De Vico, Depetri and De Petruzzo. These are complemented by Gori, Lorenzi, Natale/i, Nicolai, Pasquale/i, Salvatore and several others.

Foreign countries, regions and cities are represented by Francia (and Francese), Inglese, Fiam(m)ingo (and Flamingo), Spagna, Vasco, Toledano, Valenziano, Locarno. Italian place names are represented by Bresciani, Capuana, Piacentini, Toscano, Ferrara, Sardo; while Sicily is represented by de Trapani, De Modica, and Raguse.

The most interesting toponymic name is however Maltese, which obviously concerns someone of Maltese origin who for some reason returned to the land of his ancestors.

The names of Lucia de Corfù (1581), Emmanuel de Rodi (1584), Francesco de Milo (1585) Valerio de Céphalonie (1590), Giovanni de Candia (1595), Antonio di Santorino (1597), Nicola de Patmos (1604), Giovanna del Zante (1604), Simone Di Paros (1631), and Giovanni de Thebe (1668) in the Status Liber confirm the significant presence of Greeks in Malta. Other family names of this kind are De Corinto and De Macédonia.

Some French family names include: Reynaud, Audibert, Vignon, Grognet, Barth, Chevalier, Glivau, Grillet, Isouard and Létard.

Spanish examples also abound: Ximenes, Rodriguez, Alvarez, Ruiz, Carmona, Gallego, Vargas, Ribera, Torres and Calderon.

Slavic nomenclature brings Mitrovich, Perovich, Mircovich, Evanovich and Covich.

Semitic names, mainly Arabic, that have disappeared are also plentiful: Hakim, Habib, Xara, Zabbara, Cagege, Fartas, Far, Fellus, Felu, Mahnuq, Buras, Dorbies (= French Dorbes), Debbus, Sitajjeb and Nigret.

Then there is a fascinating list of strange disappeared family names such as Abeasis (frequently found among Jewish names in Tunisia), Acceragg, Besseling, Calapaj, Dasos, Fucar, Levanzin = Lavanzin / Navanzin, Meysionet (French), Misajel, Nais/z, Navanzin = Lavanzin, Pajas, Psinga, Sisner, Sitges, Visingh, Skilaar, Benjacar, Decoss (French), and Poussieghes (French) which await further examination.

Obviously, this modest list of names does not do justice to the hundreds, if not thousands, of family names that at one time existed in Malta. Disappeared names are still part of the national heritage; they still bear witness to our colorful history and our ethnic melting pot.

Notes:

Attard, p. 7.

Text published with the kind permission of Mario CASSAR