1. Introduction
2. Some miscellaneous reflections
3. Organization of Maltese family names
4. Hull's theory on the Girgenti colony
5. First censuses and classification of names
6. The 2005 census and the most common Maltese names
7. The pantheon of Maltese family names
8. Frequency by location
9. An overview of Gozo
10. The parallel 'Australian' sample
11. Cognates and doublets
12. Multiple names
13. Disappeared names

Some miscellaneous reflections

by Mario CASSAR

If there is one thing that interests the general public, and therefore the media, it is the relative popularity of personal names. Many people are fascinated by the meaning of names, family names and place names. Names acquire a new dimension when it is explained, for example, that Sacco may be a truncated form of the biblical name Isacco, Anastasi is a Greek name meaning "resurrection," or Zerafa is an Arabic name meaning "giraffe." The Internet has undoubtedly increased interest in this knowledge; it provides a wealth of quality information on names, though not all of it, of course.

Anthroponymy, like any other branch of onomastics, is fundamentally a linguistic science, but it is inevitably linked to history, social studies, anthropology, and geography. It is therefore a multidisciplinary science, with many pitfalls. The absence of a thorough and systematic study of Maltese family names, for example, is due to the difficulty of undertaking such a task in a situation where there is little or only fragmentary research.

Besides the obvious cultural connotations, family names also carry a hereditary dimension, both spatial (geographical distribution) and temporal (diachronic fluctuations). Each family name carries at least four values: typological, semantic, quantitative, and distributional. In other words, a family name first belongs to a general category (e.g., patronym/matronym, toponym, occupation/status, nickname); it has a meaning that can be explained; it has a numerical significance (i.e., very common, common, fairly rare, ephemeral), and it also has a particular spatial diffusion (spread across the entire country or concentrated in certain areas).

Demographic and linguistic changes in regions of the world, particularly those that were colonized, as in Malta, have led to the disappearance of many names and the birth of others. At all times and in all places, onomastics has been a matter of flux. Among the names in use today, the oldest generally appeared in the Middle Ages. With regard to Malta, the general spread of family names is linked to the re-Christianization of the island after four centuries of Muslim rule and also to post-colonial influence. By 1300, a certain recurrence and stability of family names already existed, although the standardization of contemporary names was only achieved in the 16th and 17th centuries under strong pressure from the Church and notaries (12). In this regard, the great importance of the Status Animarum (diocesan census) of Malta carried out in 1687 cannot be underestimated (13).

At this point, it is still necessary to dispel certain misconceptions: The first is that people living with the same family name are necessarily related to each other; the other is that the origin of a name reveals the ethnic origin of its bearer. The first misconception can be addressed. A person living in a town is known as Sarto (according to his occupation), or De Marco (according to his father's name); it is not surprising that another person, living further away, could also be a tailor, or be the son of another Marco. These people could potentially bear the same name without even knowing each other. Likewise, the Longos (a nickname) and the Catanias (a place name) of one locality were not necessarily related to the Longos and Catanias of another.

Furthermore, as family names took on an emotive and dynastic significance at the end of the Middle Ages, bearing a name became a matter of pride. Men sometimes sought to keep their family name alive by encouraging a guarantor to adopt it when they had no direct descendants of their own in the male line. This practice has been amply documented, at least in England, but must have also been practiced in Italy, Sicily, and Malta.

The origin of a family name does not necessarily imply the national identity of the ancestors. Two facts from the history of Malta can prove this and dispel the second misconception. At the end of the Middle Ages, many inhabitants of Arab or Jewish origin adopted a Roman adaptation of their original Semitic names in accordance with the cultural and religious requirements of the time. As an example, today's Pace do not necessarily have Italian lineage; their ancestors could have been called Shalom or Salem.

During the period of the Knights, many freed slaves chose to take the family name of their former masters out of obligation or convenience, in order to better integrate socially. Similarly, converts took the name of their master or their godparents at their baptism. Some contemporary Maltese people, bearing Italian, French, or Spanish family names, may in fact be direct descendants of these individuals, and therefore have no real connection to the original bearer of their family name.

Another factor relevant to Maltese nomenclature needs to be clarified. Old documents provide ample evidence of villages named after one of their illustrious inhabitants, probably from the landed aristocracy. Thus patronyms such as Lia, Balzan, Attard, Chircop (Kirkop), Asciaq (Għaxaq), Curmi (Qormi), and Dingli do not come from the name of the locality; it is the toponym that derives from the family name, which itself derives from a first name or a name (14). In other words, these are not place names.

Another error is that old names recorded in medieval documents necessarily prove the antiquity of contemporary names. For example, the De la Licata, De Catane, De Ursu, De Laurenzu, recorded in the 15th-century militia or Anagra list are not necessarily related to today's bearers of Delicta, Catane, Urso, De Lorenzo.

Text published with the kind permission of Mario CASSAR

1. Introduction
2. Some miscellaneous reflections
3. Organization of Maltese family names
4. Hull's theory on the Girgenti colony
5. First censuses and classification of names
6. The 2005 census and the most common Maltese names
7. The pantheon of Maltese family names
8. Frequency by location
9. An overview of Gozo
10. The parallel 'Australian' sample
11. Cognates and doublets
12. Multiple names
13. Disappeared names