Homogeneity

The degree of homogeneity of the population in a locality may be indicated by the proportion of the population having a single surname. One surname may account for anything from 6% to 17 % of the total village/town population (See table 3.3 & figure 3.1). In the villages of Zebbug and St Lawrence, one surname accounts for 17% of the population, while in Qala and Kercem one surname accounts for 14% of the population. Least homogeneous are Ghasri, Gharb and Victoria where one surname accounts for only around 6% of the population of the locality.

Table 3.3 also shows the cumulative distribution for up to 6 surnames. Three surnames account for 20 - 37 % of the population of the locality, while 6 surnames account for 29 - 55 %.

Table 3.1: Frequency of the commoner surnames in Gozo:

For each surname the number and the proportion to the total Gozo population is given.
Surname
No
%
Vella
1208
5.37
Attard
994
4.42
Camilleri
882
3.92
Grech
839
3.73
Portelli
699
3.11
Buttigieg
687
3.05
Sultana
639
2.84
Azzopardi
597
2.65
Spiteri
582
2.57
Zammit
551
2.47
Grima
544
2.42
Galea
543
2.41
Muscat
516
2.29
Borg
513
2.28
Mercieca
512
2.28
Farrugia
508
2.26
Xuereb
506
2.25
Cassar
481
2.14
Xerri
388
1.72
Saliba
375
1.67
Cauchi
360
1.54
Said
354
1.57
Mizzi
316
1.40
Total
14,176
62.97

Table 3.2 : The six most common surnames in each locality:

Commonest Surnames
Locality
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Fontana:
Galea
Borg
Farrugia
Attard
Cassar
Schembri
Gh'Sielem
Xuereb
Azzopardi Grech
Buttigieg
Zerafa
Vella
Gharb
Vella,
Cassar
Cauchi
Micallef
Portelli
Formosa
Ghasri:
Vella
Attard
Saliba
Caruana
Grech
Tabone
Kercem:
Grech
Spiteri
Vella
Formosa
Borg
Sultana
Qala:
Buttigieg
Portelli
Xerri
Vella
Mizzi
Cutajar
Munxar:
Grech
Vella
Farrugia
Attard
Zammit
Camilleri
San Lawrenz
Grima
Cauchi
Formosa
Cassar
Piscopo
Vella
Sannat:
Muscat
Spiteri
Vella
Curmi
Grima
Bajada
Xaghra:
Sultana
Attard
Bajada
Galea
Refalo
Xerri
Xewkija:
Attard
Vella
Xuereb
Azzopardi
Spiteri
Xerri
Zebbug:
Cini
Vella
Saliba
Zammit
Camilleri
Cefai

It is interesting to note that while in general, the larger villages are the least homogeneous, this is by no means always the case, with some of the smaller villages, (eg. Ghasri, Sannat, Gharb, Gh'sielem), showing a considerable heterogeneity: 6 surnames account for only around 30% of the population. On the other hand, in some of the larger villages (e.g. Xaghra, Nadur) there is a lesser degree of heterogeneity: 6 surnames cover 36-43% of the population.

Fig 3.1 Proportion of the locality population subsumed by 1 - 6 surnames. For instance, in St Lawrence, one surname accounts for 17% of the population, whereas 6 surnames account for 55%. The corresponding figures for Rabat are 6 % and 30% respectively.

==================================================

Table 3.3: Proportion of persons in each locality having the same surnames

Locality Proportion of the Local Population included by 1 - 6 surnames
1
2
3
4
5
6
S.Lawrenz
17.01
28.12
37.42
46.26
50.8
55.11
Zebbug
16.87
26.61
35.01
42.62
48.35
54.02
Qala
14.11
20.95
27.45
33.87
40.29
45.42
Kercem
13.73
21.63
29.44
34.85
39.4
43.69
Xaghra
12.81
22.1
24.37
28.6
32.43
36.26
Nadur
10.24
19.39
28.47
33.64
38.61
42.97
Munxar
8.08
14.14
19.8
24.24
28.68
32.56
Ghajnsielem
7.67
12.5
17.27
21.98
26.57
30.8
Xewkija
7.4
14.59
20.94
27.16
31.66
35.57
Fontana
7.17
13.93
18.48
23.03
27.17
35.48
Sannat
6.89
12.53
17.77
22.77
27.52
31.78
Gharb
6.59
13.18
19.65
24.9
29.91
33.91
Ghasri
6.14
11.7
16.38
20.77
24.86
28.66
Rabat
6.11
11.74
16.67
21.23
25.52
28.75

We need your support to continue working on this site. Help us.
Text and pictures (c) 2001-2017 Malta Emigration Museum and/or its contributors.

Consultancy, hosting, programming and technical assistance provided by .