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Frequency by location

by Mario CASSAR

The 2005 Census also provided a very useful statement of the five most common surnames in each Maltese locality.

Locality	1^st	2^nd	3^rd	4^th	5^th
Attard	Borg	Camilleri	Farrugia	Vella	Micallef
Balzan	Borg	Camilleri	Vella	Micallef	Mifsud
Birgu	Farrugia	Grech	Mifsud	Attard	Galea
Birkirkara	Borg	Camilleri	Zammit	Micallef	Vella
Birżebbuġa	Farrugia	Camilleri	Schembri	Vella	Zammit
Bormla	Farrugia	Vella	Grech	Cassar	Borg
Dingli	Micallef	Farrugia	Galea	Abela	Azzopardi
Fgura	Farrugia	Camilleri	Borg	Cassar	Galea
Floriana	Micallef	Borg	Camilleri	Vella	Agius
Fontana	Attard	Borg	Grech	Galea	Mizzi
Gudja	Farrugia	Dalli	Zammit	Caruana	Spiteri
Gżira	Borg	Camilleri	Micallef	Zammit	Farrugia
Għajnsielem	Xuereb	Grech	Azzopardi	Buttigieg	Grima
Għarb	Cassar	Cauchi	Vella	Micallef	Portelli
Għargħur	Aquilina	Camilleri	Bezzina	Borg	Fenech
Għasri	Mintoff	Zammit	Saliba	Mizzi	Farrugia
Għaxaq	Abela	Caruana	Farrugia	Spiteri	Agius
Ħamrun	Borg	Camilleri	Zammit	Farrugia	Spiteri
Iklin	Borg	Micallef	Grech	Camilleri	Galea
Isla	Caruana	Vella	Cassar	Abela	Farrugia
Kalkara	Cassar	Grech	Farrugia	Vella	Camilleri
Kerċem	Grech	Vella	Spiteri	Mercieca	Formosa
Kirkop	Farrugia	Zammit	Cassar	Sacco	Grech
Lija	Borg	Zammit	Camilleri	Fenech	Sammut
Luqa	Camilleri	Spiteri	Farrugia	Zammit	Vella
Marsa	Camilleri	Zammit	Spiteri	Grech	Attard
Marsaskala	Cassar	Camilleri	Farrugia	Borg	Vella
Marsaxlokk	Bugeja	Caruana	Carabott	Grech	Cassar
Mdina	Attard	Micallef	Manduca	Bugeja	Galea
Mellieħa	Vella	Borg	Gauci	Fenech	Bartolo
Mġarr	Vella	Muscat	Camilleri	Galea	Vassallo
Mosta	Camilleri	Vella	Borg	Galea	Muscat
Mqabba	Farrugia	Zammit	Camilleri	Mifsud	Grech
Msida	Borg	Micallef	Farrugia	Galea	Zammit
Mtarfa	Borg	Galea	Camilleri	Azzopardi	Micallef
Munxar	Debrincat	Vella	Bajada	Said	Curmi
Naxxar	Camilleri	Vella	Borg	Galea	Grech
Nadur	Camilleri	Portelli	Muscat	Said	Buttigieg
Pembroke	Zammit	Borg	Vella	Camilleri	Grech
Pietà	Borg	Vella	Mifsud	Grech	Micallef
Qala	Buttigieg	Portelli	Camilleri	Xerri	Vella
Qormi	Borg	Zammit	Camilleri	Farrugia	Vella
Qrendi	Farrugia	Magro	Camilleri	Azzopardi	Spiteri
Rabat (G)	Grech	Vella	Attard	Farrugia	Camilleri
Rabat (M)	Micallef	Galea	Azzopardi	Borg	Camilleri
Raħal Ġdid	Vella	Cassar	Farrugia	Zammit	Camilleri
Safi	Zammit	Busuttil	Farrugia	Abdilla	Camilleri
San Ġiljan	Borg	Camilleri	Galea	Vella	Micallef
San Ġwann	Borg	Micallef	Vella	Zammit	Grech
S. Lawrenz	Grima	Cauchi	Formosa	Cassar	Attard/ Micallef
San Pawl il-Baħar	Vella	Camilleri	Borg	Micallef	Gauci
Sannat	Muscat	Vella	Spiteri	Buttigieg	Curmi
Santa Luċija	Farrugia	Camilleri	Galea	Borg	Schembri
Santa Venera	Zammit	Borg	Farrugia	Vella	Spiteri
Siġġiewi	Farrugia	Borg	Vella	Camilleri	Bonello
Sliema	Camilleri	Borg	Vella	Micallef	Zammit
Swieqi	Borg	Camilleri	Farrugia	Vella	Zammit
Ta' Xbiex	Zammit	Borg	Camilleri	Mifsud	Cassar
Tarxien	Zammit	Farrugia	Cassar	Caruana	Grech
Valletta	Borg	Zammit	Camilleri	Farrugia	Micallef
Xagħra	Sultana	Attard	Galea	Mercieca	Bajada
Xewkija	Vella	Attard	Azzopardi	Spiteri	Xuereb
Xgħajra	Borg	Micallef	Vella	Camilleri	Mifsud
Żabbar	Camilleri	Vella	Grech	Farrugia	Cassar
Żebbug (G)	Cini	Saliba	Vella	Zammit	Camilleri
Żebbug (M)	Borg	Farrugia	Camilleri	Attard	Agius
Żejtun	Abela	Spiteri	Caruana	Camilleri	Cassar
Żurrieq	Farrugia	Camilleri	Schembri	Zammit	Caruana

The top-five names in Malta are the same as the top five family names in the Maltese islands, in exactly the same order, which means that the Gozo count did not influence the ranking order. The only two localities whose top five names reflect the national trend are Qormi and Swieqi, although in a different order.

One can try certain surname-sharing patterns. However, it is superfluous to say that Birkirkara, Balzan and Attard share Borg, Camilleri, Vella, and Micallef among their respective top five names because these are pan-Maltese family names. For example Farrugia, Camilleri, and Zammit appear in the top-five lists of Żurrieq, Mqabba, Kirkop, Safi, and Luqa, but again these are national constants. The strong occurrences of Abela in Żejtun and Gudja, of Azzopardi in Rabat and Dingli, and of Gauci in Mellieha and St Paul's Bay are more interesting. So too is the link between Luqa, Gudja, and Għaxaq via Spiteri; and between Birgu, Cospicua and Kalkara through Grech. Naxxar and Mosta are closely linked to each other in that their four most common names are not only common denominators, but also share the same ranking order (Camilleri, Vella, Borg and Galea).

The top-five in certain localities does not include a single name in the national hierarchy's top-five. These are Marsaxlokk and Mdina in Malta; Għajnsielem, Xagħra and San Lawrenz in Gozo. The Gozo lists, in general, are more idiosyncratic. This is reflected in the preponderance of Xuereb in Għajnsielem, Mintoff in Għasri, Debrincat in Munxar, Buttigieg in Qala, Sultana in Xagħra, Cini in Żebbuġ, and Grima in San Lawrenz. These are all very small and relatively isolated villages. A typical Gozo surname seems to be Rapa, but it is not frequent enough in numbers to enter any of the top-five lists.

However, certain curious trends can also be noted in Malta. This is particularly evident in the strong occurrences of Aquilina in Għargħur, Bugeja in Marsaxlokk, Magro in Qrendi, Dalli in Gudja, and Busuttil in Safi. Other concentrations, less pronounced but equally clear, are manifest in the cases of Carabott in Marsaxlokk, Sacco in Kirkop, Bezzina in Għargħur, Abdilla in Safi, and Manduca in Mdina. Penza is overwhelmingly a Luqa name.

Text published with the kind permission of Mario CASSAR